Vitamin D Boosts Immunity Against Tuberculosis
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Tuberculosis is a type of infection. Like many other infectious diseases, TB can infect individuals with compromised immunity more easily than those with normal immunity. Certain vitamins such as vitamin D are needed for a person's immunity; maintaining a sufficient level of vitamin D may help reduce the risk of acquiring TB.
No trial seems to have been carried out to demonstrate the efficacy of vitamin D in preventing TB; however, evidence has emerged that suggests that possibility.
Williams V and colleagues from North West London Hospitals NHS Trust in Middlesex, England published an article in the Oct 2008 issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal suggesting that the overwhelming majority of children with TB suffered vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency.
Dr. Williams et al. examined 64 children with either active or latent TB infection who attended the authors' TB clinic during a 2-year period. They found that 86 percent were either vitamin D deficient, (defined as having serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D at lower than 20 nmol per liter), or insufficient, defined as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D at lower than 75 nmol per liter.
Of 26 children with active TB, only one was vitamin D replete, which could mean that about 95 percent of children with active TB had vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency.
Sita-Lumsden A and colleagues from Guy's and St Thomas' Foundation Trust in London, UK also observed a similar pattern in a case-controlled study published in the Nov 2007 issue of Thorax.
These researchers discovered that patients with active TB had lower serum vitamin D concentrations than healthy controls.
Vitamin D is known to help produce antimicrobial peptides that can fight both bacteria and viruses, while also preventing infections, according to Dr. John Cannell, a vitamin D expert and director of Vitamin D Council, a nonprofit organization that aims to educate people about the importance of vitamin D to their health.
Ralph A.P. and colleagues from Royal Darwin Hospital Campus in Australia published a review on the issue in the July 2008 edition of Trends in Microbiology saying that L-arginine and vitamin D may be used as adjunctive TB immunotherapies.
The authors maintain that "By enhancing mycobacterial killing in macrophages, L-arginine and vitamin D might have the potential to enable shorter duration of treatment, reduced infectivity and improved response in drug-resistant TB."
(By David Liu and editing by Rachel Stockton)
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