Vitamin D supplements may halve the risk of severe asthma attack

A research surfacing from UK has found that consumption of Vitamin D supplements along with standard medication might halve the risk of suffering a severe asthma attack requiring hospital assistance.

According to the researchers, Vitamin D can shield the sufferers from such attacks by boosting immune responses to respiratory viruses and dampening down harmful airway inflammation.

The study coming from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), analysed the data from 955 participants taking part in seven randomized controlled trials, which tested the use of vitamin D supplements and included patients with mild to moderate asthma.

As per the results, the consumption of Vitamin D led to a reduction of 30 percent in the rate of asthma attacks requiring treatment with steroid tablets or injections, and a reduction of 50 percent in the risk of experiencing at least one asthma attack requiring Accident and Emergency Department attendance and/or hospitalization.

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According to lead researcher Professor Adrian Martineau, "These results add to the ever growing body of evidence that vitamin D can support immune function as well as bone health".

"On average, three people in the UK die from asthma attacks every day. Vitamin D is safe to take and relatively inexpensive so supplementation represents a potentially cost-effective strategy to reduce this problem.", he further added.