From Dr Donald Thomas:
Do you know someone who is ANA positive and does not have lupus? Do you know family members of people who have lupus? They should consider having their vitamin D level checked and taking life long vitamin D supplements if they are deficient.
These researchers showed that people who have a particular gene called CYP24A1 allele (esp if they have two of them) are at much higher risk for developing lupus when they are vitamin D deficient. Concentrate on the middle graph in the picture. Those who had 2 alleles (which increases the risk for lupus) were almost 5 times more likely to develop lupus when they were vitamin D deficient!
Vitamin D is essential for the immune system to work properly. Studies show that simply being low in vitamin D causes immune abnormalities that we see in lupus.
In my practice, I aim for a vitamin D level of around 40 ng/mL based upon a study at Johns Hopkins that showed this to be an optimal goal to decrease lupus disease activity.
TAKE YOUR VITAMIN D!
SHARE with everyone who has lupus and everyone who is at increased risk.
by Donald Thomas, MD
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