Vitamin D Supplementation Could Protect Us From Asthma

Asthmatic girl suffering an asthma attack receiving an inhaler at home. Vitamin D may reduce severity of attacks.
asthmatic girl. Antonio Guillem www.123rf.com Stock photo

Natural vitamin D generation from exposure to the sun is a strong recommendation from nutritionists and health professionals. Supplementation with vitamin D however has been shown in a recent study to potentially cut down the risk of asthma attacks, especially their severity. As part of medication, it means we could cut down a debilitating respiratory condition.

Asthma is an enormous global burden. It affects about 300 million children and adults throughout the world. Roughly, 25 million people have asthma in the United States and 10 deaths occur from it each year. In the UK, there are 5.4 million sufferers. These figures continue to arrive as hazards associated with particulate pollution continue to rise. One statistic tells us that each year in the USA, there are about 1.8 million visits to the emergency department for asthma attacks. We cannot yet cure asthma but there are ways to deal with it, at least by reducing the severity of such asthma attacks.

The new study found that those of us who take vitamin D supplements as well as other medication were half as likely to need hospitalisation because of an asthma attack. The other key finding was a reduction in need for steroid tablets or injections after a racking asthma attack.

This study conducted by Queen Mary, University Of London (QMUL) looked at 955 subjects over a year. A review of seven randomised controlled trials was examined. Vitamin D intake was assessed in these participants as were the incidence and severity of asthma attacks. Nobody suffered any adverse side effects from supplementation.

The key findings were:-

  • The number of people having to visit A&E dropped from six per cent to three per cent in people taking vitamin pills after they had an asthma attack.
  • A 30 per cent reduction in the number of asthma sufferers requiring treatment or steroids for these attacks.

The report points out that supplementation is a cheap and easier way to deal with a difficult and unpleasant condition than hospitalisation.

Professor Hywel Williams, Director of the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme, is quoted as saying:-

The results of this NIHR-funded study brings together evidence from several other studies from over the world and is an important contribution to reducing uncertainties on whether Vitamin D is helpful for asthma – a common condition that impacts on many thousands of people worldwide.”

Dr David Jolliffe, the first author on the paper stated:-

“Our results are largely based on data from adults with mild to moderate asthma: children and adults with severe asthma were relatively under-represented in the dataset, so our findings cannot necessarily be generalised to these patient groups at this stage.”

“Further clinical trials are on-going internationally, and we hope to include data from them in a future analysis to determine whether the promise of today’s results is confirmed in an even larger and more diverse group of patients.”

This research comes on the heels of studies suggesting that vitamin D supplementation within an hour of sunburn could help to reduce its symptoms.

The lead researcher, Professor Adrian Martineau commented:-

“These results add to the ever growing body of evidence that vitamin D can support immune function as well as bone health”

“Vitamin D is safe to take and relatively inexpensive so supplementation represents a potentially cost-effective strategy to reduce this problem.”

The research was published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

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