Can Vitamin D Prevent Infection?

A number of researchers are finding that vitamin D may play a large role in fighting infection. In July, 2005, the FASEB Journal reported that vitamin D boosts white blood cell production of cathelicidin, one of the antimicrobial compounds that fights germs.
Recent studies link vitamin D intake to increased cathelicidin production. One study that investigated the relationship between vitamin D and susceptibility to tuberculosis also supports the idea that Vitamin D deficiency may make individuals susceptible to infections.
Legions of germs come into contact with our bodies every day. Most would-be invaders, however, don’t succeed. They are destroyed by cellular recruits called up to participate in local immune militias. Scientists hadn’t been sure what serves as the call to arms for these immune cells and what triggers the production of their antibiotic arsenal.
However, over the past five years, a number of studies began to show the importance of cathelicidin, which, according to Richard L. Gallo of the University of California, San Diego, “targets the bad guys.”
Researchers discovered that Vitamin D, in its active form of 1,25-D, transforms into a compound called a pre-hormone. When researchers administered 1,25-D to a variety of cells, the gene for making cathelicidin “went boom” according to John H White, of McGill University in Montreal.
There are numerous independent and promising studies underway testing vitamin D’s effect on infections such as tuberculosis and influenza. It is possible that a shortfall in Vitamin D might seriously compromise a body’s defense system.
SOURCE: SCIENCE NEWS Nov. 11, 2006, Vol. 170, No. 20, pp312+