Vitamin D against acute respiratory diseases

Sergey Syrov, XX2 century, based on QMUL: Vitamin D protects against colds and flu, finds major global study

Vitamin D still protects against acute respiratory infections, according to a study conducted at Queen Mary University of London (Queen Mary University of London).

The work provides reliable evidence that vitamin D has a beneficial effect on the health of muscles and bones. Her findings may influence decisions in the field of public health, this may be, in particular, a program for fortification of foods with vitamin D to solve the problem of deficiency of this vitamin in the UK.

The study is based on a new analysis of "raw" data from 25 clinical trials conducted in 14 countries, including the UK, USA, Japan, India, Afghanistan, Belgium, Italy, Australia and Canada. A total of about 11,000 people participated in all these tests. The "raw" data were used for the reason that if we consider only the conclusions of all these studies, it is impossible to draw an unambiguous conclusion about the benefits of vitamin D – the conclusions are contradictory, the protective effect was not always observed.

The lead author of the new analysis, Professor Adrian Martineau, believes that his work was "the first unequivocal proof that vitamin D really protects against respiratory infections."

"Our analysis of the overall baseline data of each of the 10,933 study participants allowed us to solve the sensitive question of why vitamin D "worked" in some studies and not in others.

The bottom line is that the protective effect of vitamin D is especially pronounced in those people who are deficient in vitamin D and provided that the vitamin is consumed regularly – daily or weekly, at least.

Fortification of food is a method that allows achieving a stable, not too high level of vitamin D intake, this has practically eliminated the problem of vitamin D deficiency in a number of countries. Demonstrating the benefits of vitamin D, our study reinforces the arguments in favor of the introduction of fortification of food and in Great Britain, where vitamin D deficiency is a common phenomenon."

Vitamin D, the "solar vitamin" (not only enters the body with food, but is also synthesized under the action of ultraviolet rays in the skin) can protect against respiratory infections by increasing the level of antimicrobial peptides in the lungs. It is known that colds and flu are most common in winter and spring, when vitamin D levels in humans are especially low. The findings of the study are not contradicted by the fact that vitamin D protects against asthma attacks, which are usually also caused by respiratory viruses.

Daily or weekly intake of vitamin D halves the risk of acute respiratory infection among people with the lowest baseline vitamin D levels (below 25 nmol/L). However, for people with a higher baseline level of vitamin D, taking it also benefits, although the effect is more modest (10% reduction in risk).

In general, the reduction in the risk of acute respiratory infection associated with vitamin D intake is comparable to the protective effect of vaccination.

Acute respiratory infections are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. Upper respiratory tract infections are the most common reason for visiting a doctor and temporary disability. Acute respiratory infections of the lower respiratory tract, such as pneumonia, are less common, but became the cause of 2.65 million deaths worldwide in 2013 alone.

Vitamin D is safe and cheap, so reducing the number of cases of acute respiratory infections that vitamin D intake can give will bring tangible benefits.

An article about the study was published in the journal The BMJ (Martineau et al., Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data).

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  21.02.2017