Vitamin D

The Role of Vitamin D in the Pathogenesis

By Frank M. Painter|November 12, 2018|Scoliosis, Vitamin D|

The Role of Vitamin D in the Pathogenesis of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

SOURCE: Asian Spine J. 2018 (Oct 16) [Epub]

Shu-Yan Ng, Josette Bettany-Saltikov, Irene Yuen Kwan Cheung, Karen Kar Yin Chan

Institute of Health and Social Care,
Teesside University,
Middlesbrough, UK.

Several theories have been proposed to explain the etiology of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) until present. However, limited data are available regarding the impact of vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency on scoliosis. Previous studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency are prevalent in adolescents, including AIS patients. A series of studies conducted in Hong Kong have shown that as many as 30% of these patients have osteopenia. The 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 level has been found to positively correlate with bone mineral density (BMD) in healthy adolescents and negatively with Cobb angle in AIS patients; therefore, vitamin D deficiency is believed to play a role in AIS pathogenesis. This study attempts to review the relevant literature on AIS etiology to examine the association of vitamin D and various current theories. Our review suggested that vitamin D deficiency is associated with several current etiological theories of AIS. We postulate that vitamin D deficiency and/or insufficiency affects AIS development by its effect on the regulation of fibrosis, postural control, and BMD. Subclinical deficiency of vitamin K2, a fat-soluble vitamin, is also prevalent in adolescents; therefore, it is possible that the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is related to decreased fat intake. Further studies are required to elucidate the possible role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis and clinical management of AIS.

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A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study adding high dose vitamin D to analgesic regimens in patients with musculoskeletal pain

By John Wiens DC|April 14, 2015|Vitamin D|

Source Pub Med pubmed/25801891

Lupus. 2015 Apr;24(4-5):483-9. doi: 10.1177/0961203314558676.
Gendelman O, Itzhaki D, Makarov S, Bennun M, Amital H.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The current mode of therapy for many patients with musculoskeletal pain is unsatisfactory.

PURPOSE:

We aimed to assess the impact of adding 4000 IU of vitamin D on pain and serological parameters in patients with musculoskeletal pain.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

This was a randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled study assessing the effect of 4000 IU of orally given vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) (four gel capsules of 1000 IU, (SupHerb, Israel) vs. placebo on different parameters of pain. Eighty patients were enrolled and therapy was given for 3 months. Parameters were scored at three time points: prior to intervention, at week 6 and week 12. Visual analogue scale (VAS) scores of pain perception were recorded following 6 and 12 weeks. We also measured serum levels of leukotriene B4 (LTB4), interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) by ELISA.

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New study suggests Vitamin D recommendations miscalculated

By John Wiens DC|March 24, 2015|Vitamin D|

Source CTV News

We need far more vitamin D than previously thought, according to two teams of researchers from Canada and the US.

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin D is ten times lower than what we actually need, say two teams of researchers who have challenged the US’s National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM), both responsible for the RDA.

“The error has broad implications for public health regarding disease prevention and achieving the stated goal of ensuring that the whole population has enough vitamin D to maintain bone health,” says Dr. Cederic Garland, an adjunct professor at University of California, San Diego.

Currently the RDA for vitamin D established by the IOM is 600 international units per day until we reach 70 years of age, and 800 IU per day thereafter.

A Canadian research team reviewed each of the 10 studies the IOM used to arrive at their RDA and their calculations revealed that 600 IU of vitamin D per day puts only half of the amount that they had assumed in the blood.

In scientific terms, that means that 97.5 per cent of individuals will have serum 25 values of vitamin D above 26.8 nmol/L rather than above 50 nmol/L as the IOM had thought.

To get a serum 25 value of vitamin D of at least 50 nmol/L, you could need up to 8895 IU per day, according to the study.

Dr. Garland’s team of US researchers wrote a letter confirming the Canadian team’s findings, in which they suggest a slightly more conservative RDA.

“We call for the NAS-IOM and all public health authorities concerned with transmitting accurate nutritional information to the public to designate, as the RDA, a value of approximately 7,000 IU/day from all sources,” wrote Dr. Garland and his colleagues.

Dr. Garland added that the number is well below the 10,000 IU currently considered safe by the IOM for teenagers and adults.

Two versions exist: Vitamin D2, known as ergocalciferol, and vitamin D3, also known as cholecalciferol, which is thought to be the more potent and favorable version of the two.

Fatty fish, such as salmon, tuna, sardines and cod liver oil contain hearty amounts of vitamin D3, yet most vitamin D3 is synthesized in the skin upon sun exposure, according to the World Health Organization.

Cereals, cheese and milk could be an important source of both types of vitamin D depending upon where you live yet because they are often fortified with synthetic versions and the amounts may vary.

Vitamin D is important for skin, bone and heart health and deficiencies can result in rickets and abnormal skin pigmentation, yet side effects of excess intake are rare and minimal, according to WebMD.

Both the study and the letter were published in the journal Nutrients.

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Link between vitamin D and dementia risk confirmed

By John Wiens DC|August 7, 2014|Vitamin D|

Source University of Exeter

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a substantially increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in older people, according to the most robust study of its kind ever conducted.

An international team, led by Dr David Llewellyn at the University of Exeter Medical School, found that study participants who were severely Vitamin D deficient were more than twice as likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

The team studied elderly Americans who took part in the Cardiovascular Health Study. They discovered that adults in the study who were moderately deficient in vitamin D had a 53 per cent increased risk of developing dementia of any kind, and the risk increased to 125 per cent in those who were severely deficient.

Similar results were recorded for Alzheimer’s disease, with the moderately deficient group 69 per cent more likely to develop this type of dementia, jumping to a 122 per cent increased risk for those severely deficient.

The study was part-funded by the Alzheimer’s Association, and is published in August 6 2014 online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. It looked at 1,658 adults aged 65 and over, who were able to walk unaided and were free from dementia, cardiovascular disease and stroke at the start of the study. The participants were then followed for six years to investigate who went on to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Dr Llewellyn said: “We expected to find an association between low Vitamin D levels and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, but the results were surprising – we actually found that the association was twice as strong as we anticipated.

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Multiple Sclerosis Puzzle: Vitamin D and the Month of May

By Frank M. Painter|April 12, 2013|Autoimmune, Multiple Sclerosis, Vitamin D, Vitamin Deficiency|

Multiple Sclerosis Puzzle: Vitamin D and the Month of May

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: MedPage ~ 4-11-2013

By Nancy Walsh, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Fetal defects in thymic function and inadequate circulating levels of vitamin D may explain the well recognized influence of birth month on risk for multiple sclerosis, British researchers suggested.

Tests for a surrogate marker for thymic output of T cells found about twice the levels in cord blood of autoreactive T cells among individuals born in May compared with those born in November (P=5.5 × 10−5 versus P=1.2 × 10−6), according to Sreeram V. Ramagopalan, DPhil, of the University of Oxford, and colleagues.

Editor’s Note: If you are born in May, you would have been conceived the previous August or September, so the baby would have been carried to term during the low sunlight period of winter.

Mounting evidence has linked MS with vitamin D deficiency, and individuals born in May had lower levels of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D, at a mean of 38.4 nmol/L compared with 50.9 nmol/L, P=0.02), Ramagopalan’s group reported in a research letter in the April JAMA Neurology.

The association of birth month with later MS has been observed in many populations, although the phenomenon remains unexplained.

“We hypothesized that birth month influences T-cell production and may impair T-cell central tolerance and/or T-regulatory/T-effector cell balance, predisposing to MS,” the researchers wrote. To test this hypothesis, they examined cord blood from 100 healthy infants, half born in May and the other half in November.

Not only were the numbers of T-cells higher and the vitamin D levels lower in the May cohort, but an inverse correlation also was found between cord blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D and autoreactive CD4+ cells (ρ=−0.37, P=0.009) and CD8+ cells (ρ=−0.04, P=0.004).

These findings, in conjunction with recent observations that genes associated with MS have been found activated in cord blood, support the hypothesis that autoimmune conditions may represent a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors, according to the researchers. (more…)

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