Vitamin D important for your lung function

A new Australian study in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine suggests that vitamin D deficiency can sabotage lung function in humans.

Graeme Zosky and colleagues at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Subiaco, Australia conducted the study in mice and found the association between vitamin D deficiency and decreased lung function of volume.

Vitamin D has been known to be associated with severity of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and with a series of other serious diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

The association between vitamin D deficiency and reduced lung function has already been observed in other studies of humans.

A study led by Li F and colleagues from Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences have already revealed the association in the Dec 1 2010 issue of Respiration.

Li's study was to examined the correlation between vitamin D status and lung function and total serum IgE in Chinese adults with asthma.

For the study, the researchers measured serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D or 25(OH)D concentrations, airflow limitation and serum total IgE concentrations in 435 asthmatic people aged 18 or older.

Li et al. found almost 90 percent of the subjects had lower than 50 nmol/l of 25(OH)D and serum vitamin D concentrations were positively linked with the forced expiratory volume in 1 s.

After adjustment for other risk factors such as age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, month of blood collection and symptom duration, the positive association was found significant.

The researchers concluded "Vitamin D deficiency was highly prevalent in Chinese asthma patients, and vitamin D status was associated with lung function." 

For more information on vitamin D, read here.

David Liu, Ph.D.