Distribution of gastrointestinal Crohn’s disease. Based on data from American Gastroenterological Association. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here is another reason to check your vit D level when you see your family doctor on the next visit. Two more studies reported at Digestive Disease Week 2013 demonstrated the link between vitamin D and inflammatory bowel disease.

In a study by American researchers, vitamin D deficiency was associated with increased hospitalization and surgery related to inflammatory bowel disease, primarily Crohn disease. “Patients with Crohn’s disease who normalized their vitamin D had a lower risk for subsequent surgery than those who remained deficient,” said Ashwin Ananthakrishnan, MD, from Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston.

In a separate study, Irish researchers showed, for the first time, the “potential benefits of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength, with corresponding benefits for fatigue and quality of life in Crohn’s disease,” said Tara Raftery, a PhD candidate from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

In the double-blind placebo-controlled study of 27 patients, those who took 2000 IU of vitamin D per day for 3 months gained muscle strength. At 3 months, patients with vitamin D levels of at least 75 nmol/L had a significantly improvements on the bowel and better quality of life than patients with levels below 75 nmol/L , Raftery said. They also had significantly less fatigue. The patients with the lowest vitamin D levels at baseline had the most improvement after correction, Raftery noted. (read more)

Related articles

• Vitamin D Could Relieve Certain Symptoms of Crohn’s Disease (counselheal.com)
• Extra Vitamin D May Ease Crohn’s Symptoms, Study Finds (nlm.nih.gov)