Vitamin D and Crohn’s Disease
The prevalence of Crohn’s disease has been steadily increasing since the 1970s for reasons no one understands. However, it is less common in equatorial countries. Studies show individuals with Crohn’s disease have much lower vitamin D levels than healthy people and studies found that severity of Crohn’s disease as determined by endoscopic biopsy was much worse in subjects with low vitamin D levels.
One very small 12-month study actually investigated if 10,000 IU (250 mcg)/day helps manage Crohn’s better than 1,000 IU/day (25 mcg).
The authors reported, “clinical recurrence (relapse) of Crohn’s disease was less frequently observed in patients receiving a high dose 10,000IU daily (0%) compared to those receiving a low dose of 1000 IU daily (37.5%) (p = 0.049). Improvement in anxiety and depression scores and a good safety profile were observed in the group treated with 10,000 IU (250 mcg)/day of vitamin D3.”
