Vitamin D may help ward off TB
15 May, 2007 l 1205 hrs ISTlKounteya Sinha/TIMES NEWS NETWORK
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Vitamin_D_may_help_ward_off_TB/articleshow/2050675.cms
15 May, 2007 l 1205 hrs ISTlKounteya Sinha/TIMES NEWS NETWORK
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Vitamin_D_may_help_ward_off_TB/articleshow/2050675.cms
NEW DELHI: A single vitamin D pill every six weeks may help keep tuberculosis at bay.
In a first of its kind study that evaluates how vitamin D affects the body?s immunity to mycobacteria that causes TB, researchers from Queen Mary?s School of Medicine and Imperial College have found that regular vitamin D intake helped boost the ability of the human body to inhibit the growth of the bacteria that causes TB.
In the study, blood samples were taken from 131 subjects which were later infected with mycobacteria that causes TB.
The subjects were then split into two groups with 64 given a dummy pill and the rest a 2.5mg dose of vitamin D.
After six weeks, the blood was taken once again and infected with the same mycobacteria. Scientists found that the growth of the bacteria in the subjects who were given vitamin D was 20% less than the placebo group.
Eminent TB researcher Soumya Swaminathan from Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai, said, ??Scientists had known that microphages when cultured with vitamin D were more effective in killing bacteria. Following this highly interesting small-scale study, what we need is a large-scale clinical trial to fully prove the findings.??
This study is highly significant for India where both vitamin D deficiency and TB is rampant. Inadequate exposure to sunlight and poor nutrition are factors contributing to the vitamin D deficiency. TB has become the single largest killer of AIDS patients in India.
Over 60% of AIDS patients die of TB. Every year, 1.8 million new cases occur in India while over 1,000 people die of the disease every day.
The study, which appeared in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, recruited patients from London who belonged to high-risk groups like migrants and the elderly.
In a first of its kind study that evaluates how vitamin D affects the body?s immunity to mycobacteria that causes TB, researchers from Queen Mary?s School of Medicine and Imperial College have found that regular vitamin D intake helped boost the ability of the human body to inhibit the growth of the bacteria that causes TB.
In the study, blood samples were taken from 131 subjects which were later infected with mycobacteria that causes TB.
The subjects were then split into two groups with 64 given a dummy pill and the rest a 2.5mg dose of vitamin D.
After six weeks, the blood was taken once again and infected with the same mycobacteria. Scientists found that the growth of the bacteria in the subjects who were given vitamin D was 20% less than the placebo group.
Eminent TB researcher Soumya Swaminathan from Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai, said, ??Scientists had known that microphages when cultured with vitamin D were more effective in killing bacteria. Following this highly interesting small-scale study, what we need is a large-scale clinical trial to fully prove the findings.??
This study is highly significant for India where both vitamin D deficiency and TB is rampant. Inadequate exposure to sunlight and poor nutrition are factors contributing to the vitamin D deficiency. TB has become the single largest killer of AIDS patients in India.
Over 60% of AIDS patients die of TB. Every year, 1.8 million new cases occur in India while over 1,000 people die of the disease every day.
The study, which appeared in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, recruited patients from London who belonged to high-risk groups like migrants and the elderly.
Comment