By David Liu, PHD

Sunday July 22, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Maintaining a sufficiently high level of vitamin D may help reduce the risk of HIV disease progression or death from complications, according to a study posted online June 29 in PLoS One.

The study led by C.R. Sudfeld of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts and colleagues showed that HIV carriers who received antiretroviral therapy but also suffered vitamin D deficiency were twice as likely as those who had a normal level of the vitamin to die during a 21 month period.

The researchers found the association after analyzing data from 1103 HIV infected adults who were using antiretroviral therapy and randomly selected to participate in a trial of multivitamins in Tansania during 2006 to 2010.  Serum 25(OH)D  was measured at baseline.  Of the HIV carriers, 9.2 percent were found vitamin D deficient (lower than 20 ng/mL), 43.6 percent insufficient (20 to 30 ng/mL) and 47.2 percent sufficient (greater than 30 n/mL).

After multivariate adjustment, HIV carriers with vitamin D deficiency were found to have 100% increased risk of death, compared to those with sufficient vitamin D while vitamin D insufficiency was not associated significantly with risk of death.

Vitamin D possesses antibacterial activity against viral and bacterial infections.  Regularly taking high doses of vitamin D prevents common infections such as colds and flu, according to research reports.