A brand new Cochrane Review looked at the data from numerous studies in the past few years and the combined meta analysis results are astounding. Asthma attacks in mild and moderate forms of the disease dropped from 6% to 3%. The number of Asthma attacks requiring steroids also fell dramatically.
Asthma is an increasingly common respiratory disease & Asthma attacks affect 1 person every 10 seconds in the UK. More chilling is that 185 people are hospitalized, and 3 people die every day from Asthma attacks.
There has been break through research last Monday, the 5th of September that suggests that Vitamin D can reduce the risk of mild, moderate and severe forms of Asthma attack.
Vitamin D is known as the “sunshine vitamin” most typically taken for bone and dental health, research has shown benefits to heart health, normal muscle, immune and inflammation function and now Asthma.
Risk factors for Vitamin D deficiency are poor diet, low sunlight or long winter months, dark skin, covering skin when out doors (religious dress/suncream) or long periods of time spent indoors.
Vitamin D is one of the most talked about and researched Vitamins right now, the UK first noticed we had a problem when our cases of Rickets in the 90’s compared to the 00’s soared. This caused nutrition boards across the world to step into action and vastly increase the recommended nutrient intake (RNI) tenfold in the UK’s case.
Vitamin D deficiency is the worlds most common, affecting 40% of the worlds population.
The Cochrane library and meta studies are seen as the GOLD standard in the medical industry and yesterday they released an incredible review of many studies concerning Asthma and Vitamin D3.
Here are the facts of the review:
Stated that taking a large dose of Vitamin D can be beneficial to Asthmatics
The dose they investigated was between 1000IU-2000IU, a dose only achievable via supplementation.
They studied large groups of children and adults suffering form mild to moderate forms of asthma.
Results were taken from multiple reviews where it was found there was a significant drop in asthmatic hospital admissions from 6% to 3%.
The number of attacks requiring steroids fell from 0.44 to 0.28 per person per year.
Conclusion: The signs are great for Vitamin D, however, increasing Vitamin D did not improve other Asthmatic symptoms such as lung function. There is speculation to suggest that these effects may only occur in people whom already have a Vitamin D deficiency, thus, worsening their attacks. What this means is that Vitamin D might not effect your asthma, but if you are Vitamin D deficient your attacks and the effects of Asthma are worse.
Either way the study makes clear that Vitamin D should be taken alongside prescribed Asthma medication.
If you or someone close to you has Asthma, the recommended 1000IU to 2000IU/day of vitamin D supplementation is a great place to start. Vitamin D is not the most absorbable of Vitamins being Fat soluble so be sure to buy it formulated with Vitamin K2 (MK-7) to help bio-availablitliy.