Authors:
Hart, P. H.
Authors notes:
Discovery medicine. 2012;13(73):397-404
Keywords:
vitamin D, article, autoimmune disease, diet supplementation, human metabolism, sunlight, vitamin D deficiency, Autoimmune Diseases Dietary Supplements, Humans
Abstract
There is considerable debate about the benefits of vitamin D supplementation for multiple sclerosis, allergic asthma, and type 1 diabetes.
This has been driven mainly by observational studies linking vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency with increased prevalence of autoimmune and other diseases driven by immune processes.
Randomized controlled trials of vitamin D supplementation to treat these (and other) diseases have been disappointing.
This review examines the evidence that circulating vitamin D levels provide a surrogate measure of sun exposure and that it is the other molecules and pathways induced by sun exposure, rather than vitamin D-driven processes, that explain many of the benefits often attributed to vitamin D.