High doses of vitamin D provide no benefit to patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to findings in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
60-70% of people with COPD have vitamin D deficiency. The researchers studied 182 people with severe COPD to determine whether high doses of vitamin D supplements could reduce the number of exacerbations the participants experienced.
The findings revealed that vitamin D supplementation did not reduce the number of acute exacerbations of COPD nor did it improve lung function. The author of the research has suggested that further larger studies are needed before we can fully dismiss the benefit of vitamin D supplements.