As researchers are uncovering ever more evidence of vitamin Ds role in maintaining a healthy immune system, some of them have turned to it for an explanation of bacterial vaginosis (BV) infections.
BV may lead to a variety of complications, including preterm birth, and scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and the Magee-Womens Research Institute investigated the relation between vitamin D status and BV in 209 white and 260 black women in the first 16 weeks of pregnancy.
The results showed that women with BV had lower serum vitamin D concentrations than those without the infection. Moreover, the prevalence of BV decreased as vitamin D concentration increased to 80 nmol/L, considered a cutoff level for insufficiency.
Clinicians now believe that insufficient levels of vitamin D are not only associated with vaginal infections as well as rickets and other bone problems in children, but they may also contribute to mature-age disorders such as heart disease and certain types of cancer.
However, the average blood levels of vitamin D appear to have decreased in the U.S. between 1994 and 2004, according to researchers from the University of Colorado.
As a result, doctors have advocated using nutritional supplements containing at least 1,000 IUD, particularly during the winter months and at higher latitudes.
