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# Vitamin D cuts death risk in HIV carriers
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/vitamin_d_cuts_death_risk_in_hiv_carriers_0903120821/
- Published: 2012-09-03T09:20:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:12:38.000Z
- Description: Among 1,103 Tanzanian adults starting antiretroviral therapy, those deficient in vitamin D were twice as likely to die as those with sufficient levels, a PLoS One study found. Vitamin D status did not track with CD4 T-cell changes after treatment began.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Vitamins, Nutrition, #vivvo-import

By David Liu, PHD

Monday Sept 3, 2012 ([foodconsumer.org](http://www.foodconsumer.org/)) -- A new study in PLoS One suggests that HIV carriers may be better off taking vitamin D supplements to maintain a normal level of serum vitamin D.

The study led by Christopher R. Sudfeld of Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues found HIV carriers with vitamin D deficiency were more likely to die than those with sufficient vitamin D in the blood.

A growing body of evidence has suggested an association between low serum vitamin D and HIV disease progression. The study was intended to examine the association among HIV carriers receiving antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa.

For the study, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels were tested at the beginning of the antiretroviral therapy in a randomly selected cohort of 1103 HIV-infected adults enrolled in a trial of multivitamins in Tanzania between 2006 and 2010\. Subjects were followed up for a median of 2.6 months and CD4 T-cell counts were measured every four months.

Among HIV carriers, 9.2 percent were found vitamin D deficient (<20 ng/ml), 43.6 percent insufficient (20–30 ng/mL), and 47.2 percent sufficient (>30 ng/mL) at baseline. 

After adjustment for confounders, HIV carriers with vitamin D deficiency were twice as likely as those HIV carriers who had vitamin D sufficiency to die, whereas men with vitamin D insufficiency were 24 percent more likely to die than those with vitamin D sufficiency. The association for vitamin D insufficiency was not statistically significant.

The associations remain independent of antiretroviral infection treatments and do not change over time. Vitamin D status was not correlated with any change in CD4 T-cell count after initiation of antiretroviral therapy.

The researchers concluded "Deficient vitamin D levels may lead to increased mortality in individuals receiving ART (antiretroviral therapy) and this relationship does not appear to be due to impaired CD4 T-cell reconstitution."