An international team of researchers has completed a study that demonstrates that vitamin D supplements can help ward off acute respiratory infections. They looked at over 25 research trials, pooling the data obtained from over 11,000 subjects.
"Most people understand that vitamin D is critical for bone and muscle health," senior study author Carlos Camargo of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), told the Harvard Gazette. "Our analysis has also found that it helps the body fight acute respiratory infection, which is responsible for millions of deaths globally each year."
In the video you can get a look at how we get vitamin D, and what the results of the work found. Daily or weekly supplements of vitamin D provided the most benefit, reducing the risk of respiratory infection by half; any level of vitamin D conferred some good effect (while high levels did not give any additional protection).
"Acute respiratory infections are responsible for millions of emergency department visits in the United States," said Camargo, who is a professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School. "These results could have a major impact on our health system and also support efforts to fortify foods with vitamin D, especially in populations with high levels of vitamin D deficiency."
