Lung Function And Vitamin D

According to a recent study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, researchers have found that low levels of vitamin D are associated with lesser lung function.  Not only this, but lower levels of vitamin D in children have been found to be linked to a higher incidence of asthma and the use of asthma medications such as corticosteroids.

Researchers found that the asthmatic children who engaged in the study had low levels of vitamin D.  As more and more research has concluded, vitamin D is essential to our health.  The standard recommendations of intake for vitamin D have been questioned over the past few years as scientists have found that many individuals as severely deficient.  Especially for people living in the Northern Climates, low levels of sunlight throughout the year mean that vitamin D supplementation is necessary and recommended levels might need to be increased.

This study is just one more of these important works which are suggesting that vitamin D supplementation might be the key to dealing with a variety of common disorders.  According to the study, vitamin D supplementation might help children with asthma, especially those that have become resistant to steroid medications.  Vitamin D, it is speculated, might in fact help reverse steroid resistance.

Of the one hundred patients enrolled in the study, about forty-seven percent had vitamin D levels that were considered to be insufficient for health.  Seventeen percent had levels considered to actually be deficient.

The patients who were lowest in the vitamin D levels were also found to have higher IgE levels, levels which are associated with allergic reactions.  Other allergies, including those to dog and house dust mites, were also higher in those children with low levels of this vitamin. 

The study concluded therefore with the suggestion that either vitamin D levels that are too low are contributing to allergic reactions therefore increasing the need for excessive corticosteroid therapy; or, alternatively, that vitamin D affects steroid activity and low levels of D make steroids less effective.

Laboratory results revealed that vitamin D did in fact increase the power and anti-inflammatory effects of steroids.  As such, vitamin D supplementation could actually help reduce the need for the steroid medication and therefore reduce the incidence of drug resistance among asthmatic children.

So if you were looking for another reason to supplement with vitamin D here you go.  Vitamin D is increasingly being found to be responsible for a variety of health benefits.  Improving lung function and helping children lessen their reliance on steroid medications is certainly a good reason in and of itself to get yourself a bottle soon.