Before there were effective drugs to treat tuberculosis, doctors often sent their patients to sanitariums where they were they were encouraged to get fresh air and sunshine. The scientists did not know why exposure to the sun seemed beneficial, but their experience has now been confirmed in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
British researchers treated 95 people with TB. They were all given antibiotics, but roughly half the group got 100,000 International Units of vitamin D every two weeks for eight weeks. Those who received the placebo instead of vitamin D took much longer to clear the tuberculosis germ from bodies. Vitamin D seemed to reduce destructive inflammation within the lungs and improved the immune response. This research provides a scientific basis for understanding why TB patients benefited from sun exposure over 100 years ago.
[PNAS, online, Sept 3, 2012]
The People's Perspective on Medicine