Sunday Oct 13, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- Hav no confidence in flu vaccine? Try vitamin D!  A trial published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that high doses of vitamin D3 supplements can help effectively protect against infections and reduce use of antibiotics among elderly people.

Vitamin D has been known to enhance innate immunity by promoting the production of antibacterial peptides which help fight microbial and viral infection prevention.  It has been reported by Vitamin D Council that older people taking oral vitamin D supplements are at low risk for common flu and avian flu.

B. Tran from Population Health Department, Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and colleagues conducted the study and found people taking vitamin D supplements orally were 28% less likely to resort to antibiotics for infection and among people aged 70 or older, the reduction in the risk was almost 50%.

This is one of a few studies that actually tested the effect of vitamin D supplements on the risk of infection.  Many previous studies linked low serum levels of vitamin D to high risk of various diseases.  The current study indicated that oral vitamin D supplements can be an effective preventative against infection.

For the trial, 644 Australian residents aged 60 to 84 years were randomly assigned to receive monthly doses of 30,000 or 60,000 IU oral cholecalciferal (a form of vitamin D or D3) or a placebo for no more than 12 months.  Use of antibiotics was identified in pharmacy records through the national health insurance scheme.

Residents assigned to receive 60,000 IU of cholecalciferol per month were 28 percent less likely to use antibiotics at least once, compared with those in the placebo group.

Residents aged 70 years or older taking the monthly dose of 60,000 IU of vitamin D3 were 47% less likely to use antibiotics, compared with the controls.

The researchers concluded "Although this study was a post hoc analysis and statistically nonsignificant, this trial lends some support to the hypothesis that supplementation with 60,000 IU vitamin D/mo is associated with lower risk of infection, particularly in older adults."

The study suggests two things, first, oral vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of infection and second, only high doses of vitamin D3 can be effective in fighting infection.  A monthly dose of 60,000 IU of vitamin D is equivalent to 2,000 IU a day.   

A daily supplementation of 600 IU is currently recommended by a panel of mostly non-vitamin D researchers.  This recommendation has drawn criticism from many top vitamin D researchers.  The Canadian Cancer Society has recommended 1000 IU of vitamin D as a means to prevent cancer.

Another early trial in Japanese also found that vitamin D supplementation in school children can effectively prevent flu and colds - common lung infections.

The efficacy observed in these studies suggest that taking vitamin D supplements can be at least as effective as flu vaccine, which has a normally lower than 50 to 60% efficacy.  If a person who can use both flu vaccine and vitamin D, then his odds of getting an infection can be even lower.

While vitamin D is effective at preventing infection, other measures that boost immunity are also available.  For instance, vitamin C can be another effective preventative against infections such as colds and flu.

Vitamin De deficiency has been associated with more than 100 health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, depression, metabolic syndrome, autism, and cancer. (DL)