Children in Mongolia helped by 800 IU of Vitamin D (need a lot more) – RCT

Created October 2019

Effects of Vitamin D Supplementation and Seasonality on Circulating Cytokines in Adolescents: Analysis of Data From a Feasibility Trial in Mongolia

Front. Nutr., 23 October 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2019.00166

Sergey Yegorov1,2*, Sabri Bromage3, Ninjin Boldbaatar4 and Davaasambuu Ganmaa3,5

1Department of Pedagogical Mathematics and Natural Science, Faculty of Education and Humanities, Suleyman Demirel University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

2Department of Biology, School of Science and Humanities, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

3Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States

4Department of Radiation Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States

5Channing Division Network of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States

* Low Vitamin D in Mongolia, supplementing would save lives (20 percent have rickets) – Oct 2019 * Mongolian women have the lowest levels of vitamin D in the world – Sept 2013 * Rickets in Mongolia - July 2013 Infant-Child category has items and starts with {include}

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800 IU daiiy did not even achieve 20 ng level of Vitamin D

Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in human populations and has been linked to immune dysfunction. Here we explored the effects of cholecalciferol supplementation on circulating cytokines in severely vitamin D deficient [blood 25(OH)D << 30 nmol/L] adolescents aged 12–15 from Mongolia. The study included 28 children receiving 800 IU daily cholecalciferol for 6 months spanning winter and spring, and 30 children receiving placebo during the same period. The levels of 25(OH)D were assessed at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Twenty-one cytokines were measured in serum at baseline and at 6 months. Changes in 25(OH)D and cytokines were assessed using paired parametric tests. The median blood 25(OH)D concentration at baseline was 13.7 nmol/L (IQR = 10.0–21.7). Supplementation tripled blood 25(OH)D levels (p < 0.001) and was associated with elevated interleukin (IL)-6 (p = 0.043). The placebo group had reduced macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α (p = 0.007) and IL-8 (p = 0.034) at 6 months. Although limited by a small sample size, these findings suggest that cholecalciferol supplementation and seasonality may impact systemic immunity in adolescents, identifying chemokines as potentially important biomarkers of vitamin D status in this Northeast Asian population. Larger clinical trials are warranted to validate these results.

Clinical Trial Registration: www.ClinicalTrial.org, Identifier: NCT01244204.

Tags: Deficiency High Risk Infant-Child