New benefit of Vitamin D-Reduces respiratory Tract Infection Risk

New benefit of Vitamin D-Reduces respiratory Tract Infection Risk

What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D is a steroid vitamin, a group of fat-soluble prohormones, which encourages the absorption and metabolism of calcium and phosphorous. People who are exposed to normal quantities of sunlight do not need vitamin D supplements because sunlight promotes sufficient vitamin D synthesis in the skin.

Five forms of vitamin D has been discovered, vitamin D1, D2, D3, D4, D5. The two forms that seem to matter to humans the most are vitamins D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol).

How Much Vitamin D Do I Need?

Age in years	Daily Vitamin D Needs (IU/day)	Do Not Exceed* (IU/day)
Men and Women 19-50	600	4000
Men and Women 51-70	600	4000
Men and Women 71 and older	800	4000
Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women 19 and older	600	4000

 

Many Sources of Vitamin D

 

Vitamin D is not found naturally in many commonly consumed foods. In Canada, foods such as milk and margarine and some soy or rice beverages and yogurts have vitamin D added to them. Good food sources of vitamin D include certain kinds of fish, egg yolks and milk. The following table will show you foods that are a source of vitamin D.

Food	Serving Size	Vitamin D (IU)
Vegetables and Fruit	This food group contain very little of this nutrient.
Juice
Orange juice, fortified with vitamin D	125 mL (½ cup)	50
Grain Products	This food group contain very little of this nutrient.
Milk and Alternatives
Soy beverage, fortified with vitamin D and omega-3	250 mL (1 cup)	123
Milk 3.3% homo, 2%, 1%, skim, chocolate milk	250 mL (1 cup)	103-105
Skim milk powdered	24 g (will make 250 mL of milk)	103
Goat's milk, fortified with vitamin D	250 mL (1 cup)	100
Soy, rice or almond, fortified with vitamin D	250 mL (1 cup)	88-90
Yogurt (plain, fruit bottom), fortified with vitamin D	175 g (¾ cup)	58-71
Meat and Alternatives
Egg, yolk, cooked	2 large	57-88
Fish and Seafood
Eel, raw or cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	699
Salmon, sockeye/red, canned, cooked or raw	75 g (2 ½ oz)	530-699
Salmon, humpback/pink, canned, cooked or raw	75 g (2 ½ oz)	351-497
Salmon, coho, wild, raw or cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	326-421
Snapper, cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	392
Salmon, chinook, raw or cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	319-387
Whitefish, lake, cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	369
Mackerel, Pacific, cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	342
Salmon, Atlantic, raw or cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	181-246
Salmon, chumn/keta, raw or cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	203-221
Mackerel, canned	75 g (2 ½ oz)	219
Herring, Atlantic, pickled	75 g (2 ½ oz)	210
Trout, cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	150-210
Herring, Atlantic, cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	161
Roe, raw	75 g (2 ½ oz)	145
Sardines, Pacific, canned	75 g (2 ½ oz)	144
Halibut, cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	144
Tuna, albacore, raw or cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	82-105
Mackerel, Atlantic, cooked	75 g (2 ½ oz)	78
Tuna, white, canned with water	75 g (2 ½ oz)	60
Fats and Oils
Cod liver oil	5 mL (1 tsp)	427
Margarine	5 mL (1 tsp)	27

Many Health Benefits of Vitamin D

1. It is crucial for the absorption and metabolism of calcium and phosphorous, which have various functions, especially the maintenance of healthy bones.
2. It is an immune system regulator.
3. It may be an important way to arm the immune system against disorders like the common cold, say scientists from the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Children's Hospital Boston.
4. It may reduce the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis is much less common the nearer you get to the tropics, where there is much more sunlight, according to Dennis Bourdette, chairman of the Department of Neurology and director of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Center at Oregon Health and Science University, USA.
5. Vitamin D may have a key role in helping the brain to keep working well in later life, according to a study of 3000 European men between the ages of 40 and 79.
6. Vitamin D is probably linked to maintaining a healthy body weight, according to research carried out at the Medical College of Georgia, USA.
7. It can reduce the severity and frequency of asthma symptoms, and also the likelihood of hospitalizations due to asthma, researchers from Harvard Medical School found after monitoring 616 children in Costa Rica.
8. It has been shown to reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis in women.
9. A form of vitamin D could be one of our body's main protections against damage from low levels of radiation, say radiological experts from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
10. Various studies have shown that people with adequate levels of vitamin D have a significantly lower risk of developing cancer, compared to people with lower levels. Vitamin D deficiency was found to be prevalent in cancer patients regardless of nutritional status, in a study carried out by Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
11. High vitamin D doses can help people recover from tuberculosis more rapidly, researchers reported in September 2012 in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
12. An additional study published in September 2012 suggested that low levels of vitamin D may increase the risk of heart attack and early death.

What is respiratory Tract Infection?

 

The respiratory tract infection is any infection of the sinuses, throat, airways or lungs. It is usually caused by a virus.

Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are believed to be one of the main reasons why people visit their GP or pharmacist. The most widespread respiratory tract infection is the common cold.

 

Health professionals generally make a distinction between:

•infections of the upper respiratory tract, which affect the nose, sinuses and throat

•infections of the lower respiratory tract, which affect the airways and lungs

Children tend to get more upper RTIs than adults, because they have not yet built up immunity (resistance) to the many viruses that can cause colds.

•explains how RTIs spread

•links to detailed information on the common upper and lower RTIs

•provides advice on caring for your symptoms at home and when you should see your GP

How respiratory infections spread

RTIs can spread in several ways. If you have an infection such as a cold, tiny droplets of fluid containing the cold virus are launched into the air whenever you sneeze, cough or speak. If these are breathed in by someone else, they may also become infected.

Infections can also be spread through direct and indirect contact. For example, if you have a cold and you touch your nose or eyes before touching someone else, you may pass the virus on to them?

New Research-High Vitamin D Doses Reduce Respiratory Tract Infection Risk

Patients who are prone to infections and are given high vitamin D doses for one year have a significantly lower risk of developing respiratory tract infection, compared to their counterparts who do not receive the extra daily vitamin, researchers from the Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital reported this month in BMJ Open. The researchers added that fewer respiratory tract infections mean lower antibiotic requirements for these patients.

Dr. Peter Bergman said, “Our research can have important implications for patients with recurrent infections or a compromised immune defense, such as a lack of antibodies, and can also help to prevent the emerging resistance to antibiotics that come from overuse. On the other hand, there doesn't seem to be anything to support the idea that vitamin D would help otherwise healthy people with normal, temporary respiratory tract infections.

  

Vitamin D is a steroid vitamin which facilitates the metabolism and absorption of phosphorous and calcium. It is synthesized in the skin through sunlight exposure, and is also obtained through some foods. People who are exposed to "normal" quantities of sunlight do not require vitamin D supplements, because their skin will synthesize enough for their needs. Sweden, being very far from the equator, has abundant sunlight during the summer months and very little during the winter - there is a sharp seasonal variation of vitamin D in Swedish people's blood. Vitamin D deficiency is a serious problem in Scandinavia during the darker half of the year. Prior studies had demonstrated that low blood levels of the vitamin are linked to a higher risk of infection. Experts say that vitamin D can activate a human's immune system. Vitamin D has been shown to help tuberculosis patients recover more quickly. In this study, Bergman and team set out to determine whether treating patients with vitamin D might prevent and relieve respiratory tract infections - they were particularly interested in what the effects might be on patients who are prone to infections. They also wanted to find out whether the participants' use of antibiotics might be less. Their study - a double-blind randomized controlled trial - involved 140 volunteers who had symptoms of disease in their respiratory tracts for at least 6 weeks before the study began. They were randomly selected into one of two groups, the high-dose vitamin D group - they were given Vitamin D3 (4000 IU) daily.

The placebo group

Throughout the 12-month study period, they were asked to keep a diary and record their state of health each day, At the end of the study they found that:

Those in the vitamin D group had a 25% drop in respiratory tract infection symptoms

The people in the vitamin D group reduced their use of antibiotics by nearly half

The authors quoted a New Zealand study which was recently published in JAMA in which scientists showed that vitamin D did not reduce the severity or incidence of respiratory tract infections. This study is different, the researchers explained. While the New Zealand study worked with healthy volunteers whose blood vitamin D levels at the start of the study were normal, those in this study were not "healthy" volunteers. In the New Zealand study participants were given a larger dose less often, which is known to be less effective than taking the vitamin every day.

Dr Anna-Carin Norlin, who was involved in this study, said, However, the most important difference is probably due to the fact that our participants had much lower initial levels of vitamin D than those in the New Zealand study. There is evidence from previous studies that vitamin D supplements are only effective in patients who fall well below the recommended level, which also suggests that it would be wise to check the vitamin D levels of patients with recurrent infections." They concluded that patients with frequent respiratory tract infections who were given vitamin D3 supplements experienced reduced disease burdens. A study published in Pediatrics (August 2012 issue) showed that the incidence of respiratory tract infections among Mongolian children dropped when they were given vitamin D supplements.

(Source-BMJ Open)