Vitamin D could fight Crohn's disease

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Taking vitamin D supplements may help fight Crohn's disease, according to a new Canadian study published in the latest issue of journal of Biological Chemistry.

"Our data suggests, for the first time, that Vitamin D deficiency can contribute to Crohn's disease," said Dr. John H. White of McGill University.

Crohn's disease is an inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Crohn's disease symptoms include abdominal pain, and diarrhea, weight loss, arthritis, skin problems, and fever among others.

There is no known cause for the disease, but one theory speculates that people with the condition have a malfunctioning innate immune system which inadequately responds to foreign invaders like viruses and bacteria.

What White and colleagues found is that vitamin D acts directly on the beta defensin 2 gene, which encodes an antibacterial peptide, and also the so called NOD2 gene, which alerts cells to the presence of invading bacteria and viruses.

Vitamin D has been known to be involved in the production of antimicrobial peptides because of which the vitamin is believed to be able to help fight infection such as flu.  Numerous studies have indeed associated vitamin D deficiency with high risk of infection.

Vitamin D may not only help prevent or treat Crohn's disease, but also many types of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, depression, according to the Vitamin D Council.

Other diseases related to vitamin D deficiency include Alzheimer's disease, allergy, asthma, autism, celiac disease, cerebral palsy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic pain, cognitive function, cystic fibrosis, epilepsy, Gaucher's disease, Graves' disease, hypertension, mental illness, multiple sclerosis, muscular weakness and falls, obesity, otosclerosis, and parkinson's disease.

Dr. John Cannell, a vitamin D expert, director of vitamin D Council suggests on its website that to prevent diseases, high doses may be needed. For adults, 4000 to 6000 IUs per day may be adequate to maintain a serum level that prevents diseases.

For more information on vitamin D, visit vitamindcouncil.org and for more information on Crohn's disease, visit http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/crohns/

By David Liu