Vitamin D Supplementation and the Allergy Pandemic
Vitamin D Supplementation and the Allergy Pandemic
Only a small part of allergy research is currently dedicated to iatrogenic causes of the allergy epidemic. Nevertheless, it is a field of high potential in which we are dealing with clearly defined substances like micronutrients, vitamins, folate, antibiotics or paracetamol. A particularly interesting substance is vitamin D, used as a treatment for rickets since the 1920s. The substance has had a varied history until it was finally recommended by an European Union Directive in the 1990s as a baby food ingredient. A link between vitamin D supplements and allergy was suspected as early as 1930 long before the modern vitamin D hypothesis was developed. The rather speculative assumption in the 1990s was consecutively confirmed by clinical and epidemiological studies and mechanisms further elucidated by experimental data. Vitamin D supplementation is unlikely to be the sole cause of the allergy pandemic but at least fair scientific evidence suggests that there is a risk for inducing allergy in the newborn.
Historical Remarks
Only a small part of allergy research is currently dedicated to iatrogenic causes of the allergy epidemic. Nevertheless, it is a field of high potential in which we are dealing with clearly defined substances like micronutrients, vitamins, folate, antibiotics or paracetamol. A particularly interesting substance is vitamin D, used as a treatment for rickets since the 1920s. The substance has had a varied history until it was finally recommended by an European Union Directive in the 1990s as a baby food ingredient. A link between vitamin D supplements and allergy was suspected as early as 1930 long before the modern vitamin D hypothesis was developed. The rather speculative assumption in the 1990s was consecutively confirmed by clinical and epidemiological studies and mechanisms further elucidated by experimental data. Vitamin D supplementation is unlikely to be the sole cause of the allergy pandemic but at least fair scientific evidence suggests that there is a risk for inducing allergy in the newborn.
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