05 March 2012
According to a new US study, low blood vitamin D levels seem to be associated with increased rejection and infections after lung transplantation.
In the study, blood vitamin D concentrations of 102 patients who underwent a lung transplant were measured within 100 days prior to or following surgery (1). At the beginning of the study twenty-one patients had normal vitamin D levels and 81 were deficient. After surgery the rejection rate in the deficient group was more than double that of the non-deficient group. Infections also were more frequent in the deficient group than in the non-deficient group. In addition, the mortality rate of vitamin D deficient patients one year after transplant was nearly five times higher than those who were not deficient.
The researchers concluded that given the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in lung transplant patients and the growing evidence that this micronutrient helps the immune system tolerate the organ, optimal levels of vitamin D are critical for positive outcomes in these patients. Thus, all vitamin D deficient patients should receive supplements to normalize blood levels prior to lung transplant.
1 July 2015
A recent study by Professor Maurice Dysken of the University of Minnesota Medical School provides data that indicates that high dose vitamin E supplementation could be useful as a therapeutic treatment to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
15 January 2010
Daily supplements combining vitamin D and calcium may protect everyone from fracture, regardless of age or gender, says a new study.
11 April 2011
What are scientists, physicians and the general public to make of the many null findings from randomized controlled trials of vitamin supplements?
