Vitamin D3 Helpful in Crohn's Disease

Vitamin D supplementation may not only address low vitamin D levels present in Crohn’s disease (CD), but also reduce the risk of relapse, according to a recent trial reported in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics journal (published online ahead of print, May 11, 2010). Researchers from Aarhus University Hospital, Randers Hospital and Horsens Hospital conducted a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial featuring 108 patients with CD in remission (14 were later excluded.) The patients received either 1,200 IU vitamin D3 (n = 46) or placebo (n = 48) once daily for 12 months. The primary endpoint was clinical relapse.

The daily vitamin D3 treatment increased serum 25-OH-vitamin D from mean 69 nmol/L (standard deviation (SD) was 31 nmol/L) to mean 96 nmol/l (SD=27 nmol/L) after three months. The relapse rate was lower among patients treated with vitamin D3 (13 percent) than among patients treated with placebo (29 percent).

The researchers concluded oral supplementation with 1,200 IU/d vitamin D3 significantly increased serum vitamin D levels and insignificantly reduced the risk of relapse from 29 percent to 13 percent. They suggested larger studies are needed to confirm and explain these findings.