Vitamin D lack linked to IBD, liver disease

Vitamin D deficiency is common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and chronic liver disease, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin investigated whether Vitamin D deficiency in patients with inflammatory bowel disease is associated with a lower quality of life or higher disease activity independent of other known risk factors and medication use.

This study conducted by Dr. Alex Ulitsky and his colleagues analyzed Vitamin D levels of 504 inflammatory bowel disease patients and recorded the patients' lowest Vitamin D measurements.

Ulitsky and his team found almost 50 percent of the patients were Vitamin D deficient at some point, with 11 percent being severely deficient.

Researchers from the University of Tennessee in Memphis measured the Vitamin D levels of 118 chronic liver disease patients. Researchers found 92.4 percent of chronic liver patients had some degree of Vitamin D deficiency and at least one-third were severely deficient. Severe Vitamin D deficiency was more common among cirrhotics.

Since deficiency is common among these patients, Vitamin D replacement may hopefully prevent osteoporosis and other bone complications related to end stage liver disease, said lead researcher Dr. Satheesh P. Nair.