TB and vitamin D, linked

Filed in archive Treatment on February 26, 2006

UCLA Researchers led by Robert Modlin, in a study published February 23 by Science suggests that vitamin D supplements could be used to fight TB or tuberculosis, a disease that kills two million people a year, especially in developing countries.

The study illustrates that a successful immune response to TB depends on the conversion of vitamin D into a hormone that white blood cells use to kill the invading bacteria.

Foods such as milk and salmon contain vitamin D but larger amounts are produced in people's skin after exposure to sunlight. However, in darker skin, less vitamin D is produced. This is the reason why African-Americans had less of the vitamin's active form in their blood than white Americans.

TB is a widespread problem among poor populations throughout Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. There might be hope in vitamin D supplements in order to fight TB but researchers believe that more in-depth research and human trials is necessary in order to be certain of the effect that supplying vitamin supplements on a large-scale would have on the disease.

Source: [ScieDev.Net]