It looks like vitamin D may be the “vitamin” (actually, seco-steroid) analog of aspirin – i.e. there is hardly a condition where this humble “vitamin” has not demonstrated beneficial effects. The new study now adds asthma to the list of chronic, debilitating (and potentially lethal) conditions for which vitamin D may be therapeutic. As the study itself states, there have been quite a few epidemiological studies showing negative associations between vitamin D and asthma. Yet, not many studies have examined the direct effects of vitamin D on asthma. The study below performed both in-vitro, and in-vivo experiments and corroborated the results of those experiments with human data. All types of experiments demonstrated effectiveness of vitamin D3 for asthma. The intervention arm of the study was done with mice, for just 42 days, and the asthma-resolving dose of vitamin D3 they got was equivalent to a human dose of about 60 IU / kg daily. That means for most people 4,000 IU – 6,000 IU vitamin D3 daily should be able to replicate the design of the study. That is quite a reasonable dose and unlikely to produce side effects even in very fragile/sick people.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacig.2023.100099
https://www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/vitamin-d3-can-alleviate-asthma-symptoms-372623
“…A vitamin D3 deficiency can lead to severe symptoms, for example in people suffering from allergic asthma. This has already been shown in several studies. However, we still do not fully understand how exactly this vitamin influences the cellular inflammatory reaction in the body. A team of researchers from the Department of Molecular Pneumology at Universitätsklinikum Erlangen has now demonstrated for the first time how taking vitamin D3 can alter the cellular inflammatory reaction in allergic asthma and alleviate asthma symptoms.”
“…The team of researchers discovered that children and adults who took vitamin D3 supplements had less pronounced asthma symptoms and presented with less severe asthma, at the same time as requiring fewer steroids for inhalation. In certain cells in the blood of people with higher levels of vitamin D3, the scientists discovered greater quantities of the protein blimp-1, that is responsible for controlling the immune response of T helper cells. In order to gain a better understanding of the mechanism, Janina Grund investigated the effects administering vitamin D3 has on the immune response in mice. Once again, the vitamin led to less severe cases of asthma. She also found fewer allergy-inducing antibodies (IgE) that are responsible for certain allergic diseases such as hay fever, asthma or eczema. Administering higher doses of vitamin D3 even triggered an anti-inflammatory reaction in the immune system, specifically with the messenger substance IL-10 and cells that create blimp-1. Interestingly, the working group was able for the first time to prove that the vitamin has an effect on long-lived memory T cells that are key to the long-term immune response in the case of asthma.”
