A recent study indicates that supplementation with vitamin D seems to show benefits on children with inflammatory bowel disease or IBD.
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Researchers randomized 120 children with IBD and hypovitaminosis
D to receive either oral vitamin D3 in a dose of 2,000 IU/day or placebo for 6
months, in order to evaluate the effect of vitamin D supplementation on disease
activity, quality of life or QoL, inflammatory markers, and cytokines.
Supplementation effect on the IBD activity score was
the primary endpoint, while secondary ones included QoL, inflammatory markers,
cytokines, the safety of vitamin D, and the correlation of serum vitamin D
levels with various clinical and laboratory variables.
The vitamin D supplementation resulted in a marked
reduction in the IBD activity score in the vitamin D group comparing it with
the placebo group. QoL also revealed significant improvements following vitamin
D supplementation.
The inflammatory markers such as erythrocyte sedimentation
rate, C-reactive protein, and fecal calprotectin and interleukin, and tumor
necrosis factor-alpha significantly decreased in the vitamin D group, but, significantly
increased following supplementation of the vitamins.
Furthermore, vitamin D revealed a significantly inverse
correlation with the activity score, quality of life, levels of inflammatory
markers, the frequency of hospitalization, and emergency department visits.
Researchers noted that vitamin D has anti-inflammatory
and immune regulatory functions.
Source: J Clin Gastroenterol 2021;55:815-820