Study shows vitamin D deficiencies may impact onset of autoimmune lung disease

University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center ^ | January 4, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

CINCINNATI—A new study shows that vitamin D deficiency could be linked to the development and severity of certain autoimmune lung diseases.

These findings are being reported in the Jan. 4 edition of the journal Chest.

Brent Kinder, MD, UC Health pulmonologist, director of the Interstitial Lung Disease Center at the University of Cincinnati and lead investigator on the study, says vitamin D deficiencies have been found to affect the development of other autoimmune diseases, like lupus and type 1 diabetes.

"We wanted to see if lack of sufficient vitamin D would also be seen in patients who are diagnosed with an autoimmune interstitial lung disease (ILD) and whether it was associated with reduced lung function," he says.

Some ILD patients first discover they have an undifferentiated connective tissue disease, a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that affects multiple organ systems but is not developed enough for physicians to easily recognize and categorize.

Autoimmune diseases occur when the body produces abnormal cells that turn on the body and attack major organs and tissues. Connective tissue diseases include lupus, scleroderma, polymyositis, vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren's syndrome.

"ILD is a group of diseases that mainly affect the tissues of the lungs instead of the airways, like asthma and emphysema do," says Kinder. "It causes scarring of the lungs, is more difficult to diagnosis and treat than other kinds of lung diseases and is often fatal.

"Since vitamin D deficiency has implications for other manifestations of autoimmune illnesses, we wanted to see it had an effect on the lungs of this patient population."

Researchers evaluated 118 patients from the UC ILD Center database—67 with connective tissue disease-related ILD and 51 with other causes of lung fibrosis—for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, which indicate levels of vitamin D in the body. Then, they evaluated associations between these serum levels and the patients' conditions.

Overall, those with connective tissue disease-related ILD were more likely to have vitamin D deficiency—52 percent versus 20 percent—and insufficiency—79 percent versus 31 percent—than other forms of ILD.

Among this same group of patients, reduced serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were strongly associated with reduced lung function.

"These findings suggest that there is a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients with ILD, particularly those with connective tissue disease," Kinder says. "Therefore, vitamin D may have a role in the development of connective tissue disease-related ILD and patients' worsening lung function.

"One of the next steps is to see if supplementation will improve lung function for these patients."

He adds that if these findings are confirmed and vitamin D supplementation is shown to be effective in clinical trials, this may also provide a more natural, inexpensive treatment for the illness.

"Vitamin D is known to be a critical dietary factor for bone and skin health," he says. "Now, we're learning that it could potentially be modified as a treatment to improve ILD as opposed to other, more toxic therapies."

###

This study was funded by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Research Loan Repayment Grant and a K23 award from the NIH.

[Varda]

D is in miniscule amounts in milk and other foods. Your skin produces 20,000iu of D in just a few minutes of sun exposure. Even the newest supplements are in the 1000-2000iu range with standard vitamins containing only 400iu. That’s way below what it takes to get an overdose. Some rare people can overdose. The vast majority have the other problem, we need more.

[djf]

Quite correct. And if your doctor finds you have a deficiency, he’s liable to write you a prescription.

And in that form, he might have you taking one per day for two weeks, but not the measly 400 or even 1000 units.

Prescription Vit D comes in 50,000 unit tabs

[kickonly88]

I suppose that could be a problem if I was ingesting the whole bottle at once.

[Smokin' Joe]

Ping....(Thanks for the ping, azishot!)

[MediaMole]

Exposure is not exposure, since vitamin D requires UV exposure, which is cut dramatically when the sun is low in the sky.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Alamo-Girl]

Oops, my “thanks for the ping” should have been addressed to Smokin’ Joe.

[phockthis]

sfl

[hennie pennie]

Hypercalcemia & Vitamin D overdose

Last month there were some articles in the news that large dose Vitamin D is not good, perhaps some of those articles were posted at FR.

I wonder how many docs would even recognize Vitamin D overload?

[hennie pennie]

>>>> "....you have to all stop bitching about overdose because it cannot happen if you don't have the therapeutic amount of 60+ in your blood yet." <<<<

And why is it up to you to decide that people who cannot tolerate Vitamin D supplements should not participate in this thread?

Just recently there were articles in the news that SEVERE KIDNEY DAMAGE can result if you do NOT need Vitamin D and you follow the Online-Vitamin-D-Panacea-Crowd and take large amounts, because "EVERYONE" needs it and "nobody" EVER gets a vitamin D overdose.

[who knows what evil?]

Wonder who ‘paid’ for all those ‘studies’..?

[hennie pennie]

>**"....you have to all stop bitching about overdose because it cannot happen if you don't have the therapeutic amount of 60+ in your blood yet."**<

>>>>> "And why is it up to you to decide that people who cannot tolerate Vitamin D supplements should not participate in this thread?

"Just recently there were articles in the news that SEVERE KIDNEY DAMAGE can result if you do NOT need Vitamin D and you follow the Online-Vitamin-D-Panacea-Crowd and take large amounts, because "EVERYONE" needs it and "nobody" EVER gets a vitamin D overdose." <<<<<

FYI....

.....The findings of most of the recent studies on vitamin D are very encouraging. However, this is NOT a case of "a little is good, then a lot is better." It appears that too much vitamin D may be harmful. Excessive amounts may contribute to calcification and limited flexibility of the blood vessels in the older adult brain.

......However, taking too much vitamin D may be harmful for the nervous system, and may cause an excess of calcium in the blood.....

Too much Vitamin D may be harmful...... High Vitamin D levels are difficult for the body to dispose of, as it is classified as a 'fat soluble' vitamin. In large quantities this vitamin can cause an excess of calciulm in the bloodstream that can damage the body's internal organs due to it's toxicity. High Vitamin D symptoms may be difficult to diagnose as Vitamin D overdose symptoms may only manifest themselves when problems develop with the heart, the kidneys and the lungs.

.....Vitamin D toxicity can cause nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, weakness, weight loss, as well as confusion and heart rhythm abnormalities, according to the NIH....

.....A National Cancer Institute study last summer was the latest to report no cancer protection from vitamin D and the possibility of an increased risk of pancreatic cancer in people with the very highest D levels. Super-high doses --- above 10,000 IUs a day --- are known to cause kidney damage, and Tuesday's report sets 4,000 IUs as an upper daily limit â€" but not the amount people should strive for...

[hennie pennie]

*ping*

[hennie pennie]

If you're TRULY curious who paid for all the studies, I suggest that you do some research at Google, to satisfy your curiosity.

Meantime, I hope that people at risk for pancreatic cancer do NOT get swayed by the Vitamin-D-Is-A-Miracle Crowd, and that anybody who ever feels uncomfortable after taking High-Dose-D will listen to their own bodies, and NOT to the cyber-bulllies promoting an unproven panacea which CAN be very dangerous and very painful for SOME individuals.

[mad_as_he$$]

the amount of Vit d in milk is so small as to not be an issue.Milk in the United States is fortified with 10 micrograms (400 IU) of vitamin D per quart. Low Vit d patients are routinely put on 50,000 a week or 4-5,000 a day.

[lonestar]

Did you mix iodine with baby oil as a tanning lotion? I did the beach as a teenager, also, and that was our potion.

[muawiyah]

Well, Fur Shur, you just lost that argument if a Vitamin D OVERDOSE can cause weight loss!

All those beached whale people are going to be overdosing on the stuff ~

[muawiyah]

Folks with that super translucent skin (raises hand) can get a sufficiency of Vitamin D quick as a bunny in the presence of any UV. They can turn into toasted strawberries in an OD of UV.

So, what's the best way to get our vitamin D?

Well, fish, acidophilous milk (just in case you are also lactose intolerant), etc.

And how do we know we have enough? Take a test!

BTW, I'm still working on the Vitamin B-12 issue ~ I do seem to have some sort of "leakage" so I have to keep taking it. During this eye thing (6 months long) I cut back on it so it's just 2 or 3 pills a week. My doctor is giving me another test soon so we'll see if that hurt.

[dawn53]

That might have been one...we used some kind of greasy oil, can’t remember what it was.

Also did the lemon juice to lighten our hair in the sun (before the days of the “sun in” product.)

[Smokin' Joe]

You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!