14 DAY TRIAL // What's the link between strong bones and TB?
A team from Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Imperial College have found that vitamin D could fight against tuberculosis.
TB kills annually about 2 million people worlwide, but developed countries are not spared: UK registered in 2006 a 2 % rise (8,000 new cases), the primary source being the immigrants.
The research made on 131 subjects discovered that vitamin D increased the body's ability control the growth of the mycobacteria that induces this lung disease. Vitamin D could be used in the case of at-risk patients. Before the emergence of the antibiotics, it was used against TB in sanatoriums. But this is the first research assessing the effect of vitamin D on the body's immunity to mycobacteria. The researchers took blood from all the volunteers and infected it with mycobacteria. After that, 64 subjects received a dummy pill while another 67 a 2.5 mg dose of vitamin D. Six weeks later, blood samples were again infected with mycobacteria.
When the samples were investigated 24 hours later, the researchers discovered that in the samples from the lot that received vitamin D there was the bacterium developed 20% less than in the control group.
More clinical trials are needed to see how really the vitamin acts. The researchers pointed that the vitamin could be recommended to those vulnerable, as the bacteria can be inactive, waiting for a break in the immune system to hit effectively, or incorporated in drinks like milk and orange juice.
"This shows that a simple, cheap supplement could make a significant impact on the health of people most at risk from the disease." said lead researcher Dr Adrian Martineau.
"We have known for a while vitamin D could help and it is good to see it being confirmed in such a study. What makes this potentially a very good intervention is that it is cheap and easy to administer. But we need to await the clinical trials." said Professor Peter Davies, a chest specialist and secretary of the TB Alert campaign group.
There's evidence that vitamin D could also be beneficial in cancer and diabetes.