Vitamin D low levels associated with medications and asthma symptoms
Low levels of vitamin D were found to be linked with minimized lung function and medication use in children with asthma, as per researchers at National Jewish Health.
This finding was revealed in a paper published online this week in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.
From Sciencedaily.com:
“Our findings suggest two possible explanations,” said senior author Donald Leung, MD, PhD. “It could be that lower vitamin D levels contribute to increasing asthma severity, which requires more corticosteroid therapy. Or, it may be that vitamin D directly affects steroid activity, and that low levels of vitamin D make the steroids less effective, thus requiring more medication for the same effect.”
The researchers performed a series of laboratory experiments that indicated vitamin D enhances the action of corticosteroids. They cultured some immune cells with the corticosteroid dexamethasone alone and others with vitamin D first, then dexamethasone. The vitamin D significantly increased the effectiveness of dexamethasone. In one experiment vitamin D and dexamethasone together were more effective than 10 times as much dexamethasone alone.
The researchers also incubated immune-system cells for 72 hours with a staphylococcal toxin to induce corticosteroid resistance. Vitamin D restored the activity of dexamethasone.
“Our work suggests that vitamin D enhances the anti-inflammatory function of corticosteroids,’ said Dr. Leung. “If future studies confirm these findings vitamin D may help asthma patients achieve better control of their respiratory symptoms with less medication.”
Daniel Searing, MD, and his colleagues reported that ability of Vitamin D for enhancing the activity of the most effective controller medication for asthma, corticosteroids.
Tags: asthma, corticosteroids, steroid, Steroids, vitamin D
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