Study: Vitamin D influences more than 200 human genes

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BlankStudy: Vitamin D influences more than 200 human genes

Researchers at the University of Oxford have discovered that more than 200 human

genes show “significant changes in expression in response to vitamin D,”

including those associated with auto-immune disorders, such as multiple

sclerosis, lupus and Crohn’s disease, and with certain cancers and type 1

diabetes. The study, published online in Genome Research earlier this week, used

DNA sequencing technology to map vitamin D binding sites, and found more than

2,700 of them—highly concentrated near these genes.

“Our study shows quite dramatically the wide-ranging influence that vitamin D

exerts over our health,” said s Heger, PhD, one of the lead authors of the

study. Another of the study’s authors Sreeram Ramagopalan, PhD, added: “There is

now evidence supporting a role for vitamin D in susceptibility to a host of

diseases.”

Up to 36 percent of American adults are estimated to have inadequate levels of

vitamin D, and most vitamin D intake comes through exposure to sunlight—a

problem for people living in northern climes. But Shao, PhD, senior vice

president, scientific and regulatory affairs at the Council for Responsible

Nutrition, doesn’t see the study as a call for supplementation. “The information

is not particularly new—researchers have known for years that many genes are

responsive to vitamin D … . This latest analysis reinforces that … and may help

point researchers in other directions for studying the clinical benefits of

vitamin D. But this reveals nothing about how much vitamin D people should

consume.”

The study was funded by the Medical Research Council, the MS Society, the

Wellcome Trust and MS Society of Canada.