People who are low in vitamin D don’t respond as well to treatment for inflammatory bowel disease, and are more likely to experience a relapse.

Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are both referred to as inflammatory bowel disease. They are autoimmune conditions, meaning the immune system is responsible for causing damage to the small or large intestine. They are both incredibly common conditions that I treat at my clinic and I am seeing them in younger and younger individuals. Inflammatory bowel disease can range from mild to life threatening.

An interesting study has just been published in the journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics called Higher 25-hydroxyvitamin D Levels Are Associated With Greater Odds Of Remission With Anti-Tumour Necrosis Factor-A Medications Among Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Earlier research has shown that vitamin D deficiency is associated with more aggressive inflammatory bowel disease and it can prolong the duration of drug treatment with anti-TNFα medication in patients.

In this particular study scientists checked the medical records of 173 patients at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital IBD Center. Results showed that optimal blood vitamin D levels were associated with disease remission after three months of drug treatment. Individuals who had below normal vitamin D had a lower chance of going into remission, regardless of their age, gender, specific diagnosis, the specific type of anti-TNFα drug therapy used, or whether it was their first or subsequent anti-TNFα treatment.

Clearly vitamin D is very important in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. It has natural anti-inflammatory effects and helps to balance the immune system. In my experience, few of my patients have optimal blood levels of vitamin D when I give them a blood test. To learn more about vitamin D and the treatment of autoimmune disease, see my book Healing Autoimmune Disease.

Reference