Vitamin D3 has once again impressed health professionals looking for a simple way to protect against the coronavirus. It has long been suggested that this pro-hormone boosts immune system. Now it appears to prevent the autoimmune disease development as well.
In the recent study at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston the team of researches has been monitoring the participants for over five years. They assessed the progress of autoimmune conditions (such as autoimmune thyroid disease, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis) by following around 26,000 people of age of 50 in the US. All participants were divided into two groups: some was given vitamin D supplements, other – a placebo.
The study produced strong evidence of a causal link between vitamin D3 deficiency and a risk of autoimmune disease development in adults over 50. As Dr Costenbader explains, previous studies highlighted that vitamin D supplement’s provide beneficial effects on the immune system. However, the earlier findings have never proven that giving vitamin D can prevent autoimmune disease.
Some implications from this study
This sdudy was published in The BMJ. It provides evidence that vitamin D supplementation over 5 years reduced autoimmune diseases by 22 percent.
Autoimmune diseases such as thyroid disease, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis take place when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body.
More than 24 million people in theUSA suffer from an autoimmune disease. Another 8 million have autoantibodies in their blood that provides grounds for developing an autoimmune disease.
This discovery is important. Vitamin D supplementation can help reducing both hospitalisation at the time of coronavis pandemic and risks of development of autoimmune deseases after vaccination.
Dose of Vitamin D used in the study
The daily supplementation of vitamin D in this five-year study was 2,000 IU/day. In some instances Vitamin D was offered in a combination with omega 3 fatty acids. More pronounced effects of vitamin D on autoimmune disease incidences was registered after two years.
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