Single High-Dose Vitamin D Improves Vitamin D Status and Decreases Levels of Proinflammatory Cytokines in Healthy Adults

by | Dec 1, 2022 | 2022, Vitamin D - Infections & Immunity, Vitamins

Written by Taylor Woosley, Staff Writer. A single high dose of vitamin D3 (80,000 IU) increased subject’s vitamin D status by approximately 60% and significantly reduced the serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α. 

vitamin D capsulesAdequate vitamin D levels are essential for optimal health but the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, namely lower than 30 nmol/L, and lower than 50 nmol/L, is estimated at 13.0% and 40.4%, respectively, irrespective of age group, ethnicity, and location of study population1. Vitamin D is a steroid hormone with pleiotropic and tissue-specific effects due to wide expression of the nuclear vitamin D receptor in many different tissues2. Apart from being involved in the metabolism of calcium and phosphorous, vitamin D also has a role in the inflammatory response, glucose, and lipid metabolism, and in vascular regulation3. It also enhances cellular immunity, in part by reducing the cytokine storm induced by the innate immune system by suppressing inappropriate immune responses and reducing levels of inflammatory cytokines through control of gene expression4.

While inflammation is part of the normal repair response for healing, but when it becomes prolonged and persists, it can become damaging and destructive5. Chronic inflammation is maintained through the promotion of proinflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, IL-17, and interferon-γ (IFN-γ)6. Research on vitamin D has shown its ability to regulate the production of cytokines, generally upregulating anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-10, and downregulating proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, reducing the risk of a cytokine storm7.

Alsufiani et al. conducted a study to assess the effectiveness of a single high dose of vitamin D3 (80,000 IU) on the vitamin D status and serum levels of proinflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α in healthy Saudi females. Participants (n=50, aged between 18 and 60) had their height and weight measured, along with a calculated body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Subjects donated fasting blood samples at baseline (day 0), after one day (day 1) and after thirty days (day 30) of oral administration of a single dose of 80,000 IU vitamin D3. Other biomarkers such as lipid profile, phosphorous (PHOS), calcium (CAL), parathyroid hormone (PTH), 25(OH)D3 and proinflammatory cytokines were also measured.

Repeated measures one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Bonferroni’s multiple comparison test was utilized to determine the significant differences in mean serum levels of 25(OH)D3, IL6, IL8 and TNF, cholesterol (CHOL), triglycerides (TAG), LDL, PHOS, CAL and PTH between days 0, 1 and 30 of vitamin D3 administration. The mean serum 25(OH)D3 concentration at baseline was 41.9 ± 4.1 nM, and 72% of subjects had an insufficient vitamin D status of less than 50 nM. Significant findings of the study are as follows:

  • Average vitamin D status significantly increased to 66.3 ±5 nM at day 1 and 68.9 ± 2.5 nM at day 30, representing an average increase by 24.4 and 26.9 nM and a shift from deficiency and insufficiency to sufficiency for 76% and 94% of subjects, respectively, at days 1 and 30 after vitamin D3 administration.
  • Mean serum IL-6 concentrations significantly decreased from 405 ± 30 ng/L at baseline to 350 ± 30 ng/L at day 1 and 137 ± 20 ng/L at day 30, representing an average decrease by 55 and 269 ng/L, respectively.
  • Similarly, serum IL-8 concentrations decreased from 506 ± 40 ng/L to 455 ± 35 ng/L at day 1 and 192 ± 10 ng/L at day 30 and for serum TNF levels, which significantly decreased from 165 ± 8 ng/L at baseline to 156 ± 7 ng/L at day 1 and 63 ± 3 ng/L at day 30.

Results of the study show that a single high dose of vitamin D3 at 80,000 IU significantly improved vitamin D3 status and decreased inflammatory cytokine markers in healthy subjects. By day 1, vitamin D status had increased by approximately 60% in participants, with decreased inflammatory markers evident at day 1 and day 30. Further research should continue to explore the effectiveness of a single high dose of vitamin D3 on pro- and anti-inflammatory markers.

Source: Alsufiani, Hadeil M., Shareefa A. AlGhamdi, Huda F. AlShaibi, Sawsan O. Khoja, Safa F. Saif, and Carsten Carlberg. “A Single Vitamin D3 Bolus Supplementation Improves Vitamin D Status and Reduces Proinflammatory Cytokines in Healthy Females.” Nutrients 14, no. 19 (2022): 3963.

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

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Posted December 1, 2022.

Taylor Woosley studied biology at Purdue University before becoming a 2016 graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a major in Writing. She currently resides in Glen Ellyn, IL.

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