Vitamin D: Shedding Some Light on Infertility

I've posted on the present epidemic of low vitamin D previously. Now we find yet another association of low levels of Vitamin D - Infetility.

Publishing in the European Journal of Endocrinology, researchers Elizabeth Lerchbaum and Barbara Obermayer-Pietsch performed a systematic review of studies published until October of 2011. A short summary of their results from PubMed:

The vitamin D receptor (VDR) and vitamin D metabolizing enzymes are found in reproductive tissues of women and men. Vdr knockout mice have significant gonadal insufficiency, decreased sperm count and motility, and histological abnormalities of testis, ovary and uterus. Moreover, we present evidence that vitamin D is involved in female reproduction including IVF outcome (clinical pregnancy rates) and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). In PCOS women, low 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels are associated with obesity, metabolic, and endocrine disturbances and vitamin D supplementation might improve menstrual frequency and metabolic disturbances in those women. Moreover, vitamin D might influence steroidogenesis of sex hormones (estradiol and progesterone) in healthy women and high 25(OH)D levels might be associated with endometriosis. In men, vitamin D is positively associated with semen quality and androgen status. Moreover, vitamin D treatment might increase testosterone levels. Testiculopathic men show low CYP21R expression, low 25(OH)D levels, and osteoporosis despite normal testosterone levels.

While more work needs to be done, the impact of Vitamin D on both the male and female reproductive systems is far-reaching and still poorly understood. Stay tuned.

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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.

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