Vitamin D Absorption Reduced in Crohn's Disease Patients

Study conducted by researchers from Boston University have shown that vitamin D absorption is reduced in patients with Crohn's disease (CD).

Study conducted by researchers from Boston University have shown that vitamin D absorption is reduced in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). This reduced absorption may be the cause for increased risk of vitamin D deficiency in Crohn's disease patients.

The findings have shown that the only way to determine absorption efficiency is to perform a vitamin D bio-availability test.

Crohn’s Disease
Crohn’s disease or regional enteritis is an inflammatory bowel disease that involves the small intestine and causes abdominal pain, diarrhea and bleeding.

Ten normal subjects (50 percent female) and 37 CD patients with quiescent disease (51 percent female) were included in this study. A vitamin D bio-availability test was performed on all subjects.

The researchers found that CD patients had on average a 30 percent decrease in their ability to absorb vitamin D2 when compared to normal subjects.

According to the researchers, this study emphasized the important role of an oral vitamin D absorption test, which may be an excellent means to assess for the malabsorption of fat-soluble vitamin.

Ulcerative Colitis
Ulcerative colitis is characterized by bouts of diarrhea, bleeding per rectum and pain, which remits and relapses. Fulminant colitis is a possibility, which may require colectomy.

"We demonstrated that neither disease activity nor prior surgery or location of disease predicts the ability to absorb vitamin D," said lead author Francis Farraye, a professor of medicine at BUSM.

Senior author Michael Holick, added, "Since the ability to absorb vitamin D in CD patients is unpredictable, the only way to determine absorption efficiency is to perform a vitamin D bioavailability test. This test is convenient and its use may guide clinicians in administering the appropriate therapeutic dose of vitamin D for treating vitamin D deficiency in patients with CD."

Additionally, the researchers performed vitamin D absorption tests in four patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and found a wide variability of vitamin D2 bio-availability in patients with UC as well as in 17 patients with CD, which was unexpected since vitamin D is absorbed in the small intestine and not in the colon.

The results, if confirmed by others may merit the development of a vitamin D assay by reference laboratories as a clinical test. "Our data support the use of an oral vitamin D absorption test in CD patients, especially in those patients who could not correct in the vitamin D deficiency by either dietary or pharmacologic means," added Farraye.

Vitamin D Aids Faster Recovery From TB
Scientists at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry have found that Vitamin D can help antibiotic treatment of tuberculosis (TB).

The findings appeared online in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

Source-ANI