Vitamin D shown to play key role in SLE

Evidence continues to grow on the pivotal role of blood vitamin D level in the modulation of immune activity in SLE (lupus).

Studying 198 consecutive people with SLE recruited from 3 US medical centres, the researchers demonstrated severe vitamin D deficiency in a high proportion, and most importantly, an inverse correlation between vitamin D level and disease activity, that is, the lower the vitamin D, the more active the disease.

The authors stressed the importance of adequate vitamin D supplementation in people with SLE to restore normal immune balance.

This is a key part of the research effort in demonstrating the pivotal role in modulating the immune response in a range of autoimmune diseases, such as MS, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, SLE, and other conditions.

Given how congruent all the studies in these diverse conditions have been in relation to the role of vitamin D, it seems reasonable to extrapolate from now completed clinical trials of vitamin D supplementation in MS to other autoimmune diseases, and suggest that people with any of the above diseases should be supplementing with high doses of vitamin D, of the order of 5,000-10,000 IU a day to keep blood levels around 150-225 nmol.

Read the full study here.