health
Vitamin D deficiency linked to allergies
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 14, 2011
Children and teenagers who are deficient in vitamin D are more likely to have allergies than those who get enough of the vitamin, says a study published online Feb. 17 in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in Bronx, N.Y., analyzed data on 3,136 children and adolescents and 3,454 adults from the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Allergic sensitization was measured using serum Immunoglobulin E levels (link).
Children and teenagers who were vitamin D deficient were more likely to show sensitization to 11 of 17 allergens, including food and environmental allergens such as ragweed and oak. A similar association was not found in adults.
More research is needed to confirm the findings, which show only an association and do not prove that vitamin D deficiency causes allergies in young people, said Michal Melamed, MD, MHS, senior study author and assistant professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/03/14/hlbf0314.htm.
