Vitamin D, has been seen to have many protective effects on human. It has beneficial effects against asthma, osteoporosis, osteopenia, boosting immunity and many cancers. Now, it has been seen to prevent
Crohn’s disease (
CD), an
inflammatory bowel disease in women.
Researchers from the Division of Gastroenterology,
Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston, found that
vitamin D–sufficient women were 62% less likely to be diagnosed with CD during a 22-year period compared with those deemed deficient.
The investigators examined data for 72,719 women (median age, 53 years; range, 40 - 73 years) enrolled in the prospective
Nurses' Health Study who had completed an assessment of diet and lifestyle in 1986.
During a follow-up period of 22 years (1,492,811 person-years), 122 women were diagnosed with CD at a median age of 64.0 years (range, 48 - 80 years) and a "median interval between assessment of predicted plasma
25(OH)D level and disease diagnosis" of 10 years.
An analysis of the data based on predefined plasma 25(OH)D levels showed that vitamin D–sufficient women (levels ≥ 30 ng/mL) were 62% less likely to be diagnosed with CD during the 22-year interval than those with deficient vitamin D levels (<20 ng/mL; hazard ratio [
HR], 0.38; 95%
confidence interval [CI], 0.15 - 0.97;
P trend = .048).
Each 1 ng/mL increase in plasma 25(OH)D level was associated with a 6% relative reduction in CD risk (multivariate HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.89 - 0.99;
P = .03) that was not affected by smoking status or contraceptive use.
Although, there can be some drawbacks in the study, vitamin D intake can well be taken up by the patients, who are worried about the disease and the available treatment options for the disease.
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