Researchers previously thought the anti-inflammatory properties of vitamin D supplements might reduce symptoms for the patients with COPD. A new study shows little difference between the patients receiving vitamin D and a placebo. In a new study of people with moderate or severe lung disease, taking large amounts of vitamin D was not linked to any symptom of relief, researchers from Belgium report, Medical Health News said. Prior research suggested that up to three quarters of people with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, are deficient in the vitamin. So it was thought that giving them extra vitamin D might help prevent exacerbations in symptoms or trips to the hospital because of shortness of breath or mucus in the airways but that turned out not to be the case.
“Supplementation with vitamin D is not going to cure their disease,” said Dr Wim Janssens, one of the study’s authors from University Hospitals Leuven. “It is again clear for COPD patients that these exacerbations are really hard to treat and prevent. There are a lot of relapses. We’re basically failing in treating these,” Janssens said. Though vitamin D is most often associated with bone health and osteoporosis, Janssens said the theory has been that the vitamin may help reduce inflammation, including inflammation in the airways that worsen COPD symptoms, such as coughing and trouble breathing.
