Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Vitamin D deficiency in children and adults with IBS

New Medical Research Shows Vitamin D Deficiency Observed in Children, Adolescents and Adults with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Calling Attention to Managing Nutritional Requirements Related to IBS

- New study notes that children and adolescents with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) have a high incidence of vitamin D deficiency

- Corroborates earlier evidence of vitamin D deficiency among adults with IBS

- Since vitamin D deficiency can lead to increased risk of decreased bone mass, nutritional requirements related to IBS need attention

- Intestinal malabsorption emerging as an underlying factor in IBS

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Apr 05, 2017, 09:04 ET

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BOCA RATON, Fla., April 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A recently published case-controlled study, entitled "Vitamin D status in pediatric irritable bowel syndrome,"1 found more than 90 percent of pediatric patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) were deficient in vitamin D. According to the lead study author from UMass Memorial Health Care, Benjamin U. Nwosu, M.D., these children "are definitely at risk for decreased bone mass." The study was published on February 13, 2017, in PLOS ONE, a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS), which covers primary research within science and medicine.

Dr. Nwosu said that he "was surprised that IBS had the highest prevalence of vitamin D deficiency of all gastrointestinal disorders we have studied in the past 5 years."

The study authors noted, "There is a much higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (in IBS) compared to IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and other malabsorption syndromes."

"Clinicians should immediately increase their surveillance for vitamin D deficiency in patients with IBS and initiate appropriate vitamin D supplementation in cases of deficiency," said Dr. Nwosu.

Vitamin D Deficiency in Adults With IBS
A previous analysis in adults conducted with patients with IBS and a healthy control group without IBS, entitled "Vitamin D Deficiency in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Does it Exist?"2, showed that vitamin D deficiency was highly prevalent in patients with IBS, and that vitamin D supplementation should be considered as part of the therapeutic protocol in patients with IBS. The 2015 study was published in the Oman Medical Journal, a peer-reviewed, open-access international journal.

Yasir Khayyat, M.D., the lead study author, concluded that vitamin D supplementation could play a therapeutic role in control of IBS. He said, "With an enhanced attention on the role of vitamin D deficiency in the pathogenesis of several chronic illnesses, deficiency of vitamin D in IBS has recently caught the interest of medical professionals. There have been numerous attempts of therapeutic application of vitamin D to improve IBS symptoms. More research is needed to establish the therapeutic role of vitamin D in the management of IBS patients and deficiency should be addressed in the diagnosis and the treatment of the condition."

Another double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study recently was conducted by the University of Sheffield (U.K.). This study of adults with IBS, entitled "Vitamin D associates with improved quality of life in participants with irritable bowel syndrome: outcomes from a pilot trial,"3 showed that 78 percent of the IBS patients in the study were vitamin D deficient, and, at baseline, circulating vitamin D levels were correlated with IBS patients' quality of life. The lead author of the study, Simon Tazzyman, M.D., hypothesized that vitamin D supplementation may improve IBS symptoms. Study results revealed that vitamin D supplementation significantly improved vitamin D levels in both the placebo and vitamin D supplementation arms. However, in this study, the two arms did not separate when it came to IBS symptoms' severity. The 2016 study was published in the BMJ Open Gastroenterology, an online-only, peer-reviewed open access gastroenterology journal, dedicated to publishing high-quality medical research from all disciplines and therapeutic areas of gastroenterology.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-medical-research-shows-vitamin-d-deficiency-observed-in-children-adolescents-and-adults-with-irritable-bowel-syndrome-ibs-calling-attention-to-managing-nutritional-requirements-related-to-ibs-300434590.html

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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!

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