Vitamin D Deficiency

More evidence for the role of Vitamin D in immune function.

Vitamin D deficiency increased rate of ear and gastrointestinal infections

Thornton K. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2013;doi:10.1097/INF.0b013e3182868989.February 28, 2013More than 50% of children were either vitamin D deficient or insufficient in a recent study, and those children were more likely to have ear infections and gastrointestinal problems, according to published data.Kathryn Thornton, DMD, MPH, of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at Michigan State University, and colleagues looked at data from a sample of 475 school-age children from Bogotá, Colombia. “The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was 10%; an additional 47% of children were vitamin D-insufficient. Vitamin D deficiency was associated with increased rates of diarrhea with vomiting and earache/discharge with fever,” the researchers wrote.