Vitamin D supplementation does cut respiratory infections, new study suggests

The debate over whether patients should be encouraged to supplement their diet has reignited after a study found that vitamin D supplementation can help reduce the risk of acute respiratory tract infections.

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London argued that their findings, published in The BMJ,1 support the introduction of food fortification in the UK.

But in a linked editorial other academics, who recently questioned the evidence using vitamin D supplements to prevent disease, said that a clinically useful effect remains uncertain and requires confirmation in further “well designed, adequately powered” randomised controlled trials.2

After setting out to determine the overall effect of vitamin D supplements on the risk of acute respiratory tract infection the researchers conducted …