Vitamin D Is More Than Just Bones

Since someone close to me was recently diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus aka Lupus aka SLE, I started thinking about the effect that being told to avoid the sun might have on both vitamin D levels and the impact on lupus.

Since the root cause of many diseases such as SLE remains elusive, I was intrigued to find that specialists in the field were asking similar questions. Abou-Raya and colleagues conducted a placebo-controlled trial of vitamin D supplementation in patients with lupus.

Their findings were interesting. First, the lupus patients tended to have lower baseline vitamin D levels when compared with the control group. Second, and more importantly, vitamin D supplementation for 12 months led to significant improvements in both markers of disease activity and in clinical disease activity as well.

From the discussion: ... The overall effect of vitamin D is enhancement of protective innate immune response, while maintaining self-tolerance by dampening overactive adaptive immune responses30. Amelioration of proinflammatory cytokines by vitamin D supplementation may be attributed to the antiinflammatory and immunomodulation effect of vitamin D.

Finally, they conclude: Vitamin D, a safe, inexpensive, and widely available agent, may be effective as a disease-suppressing intervention for patients with SLE. In addition to the potential benefit of vitamin D replacement on improvement of SLE activity, vitamin D seems to have an immune-inflammatory-modulatory role that may benefit musculoskeletal and cardiovascular manifestations of SLE. This role could also help maintain immune health, thus avoiding the excess morbidity and mortality associated with vitamin D deficiency. We recommend routine assessment of vitamin D levels and adequate supplementation of the vitamin in patients with SLE.

When it comes to knowledge about vitamin D, let the sunshine in.

I know this has little to do with ultrasound but a lot to do with our health and that of our loved ones. If you do need an appointment for an ultrasound, feel free to call (718) 925-6277.