Impact of vitamin D on infectious disease-tuberculosis-a review

Vitamin D, a fat soluble vitamin, is well known for calcium homeostasis. In recent years, many researchers have suggested that vitamin D performs multiple functions extending far beyond mineral homeostasis. The vitamin D synthesis machinery and related receptor have been reported in multiple tissues, where they play a key role in immune system modulation. Deficiency of vitamin D is not linked only with rickets or osteomalacia but with many other infectious and metabolic disorders. Emerging evidences suggest the relation of vitamin D deficiency in establishing tuberculosis. High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in pulmonary TB patients indicates that vitamin D is a risk factor for the development of active tuberculosis. Therefore, maintaining vitamin D status in TB patients might be helpful to control tuberculosis. The level of vitamin can be maintained in reference limit by changing life style and use of multivitamin supplements. This review outlines the role of vitamin D in infectious diseases like tuberculosis and also effect of supplementation on treatment of TB; however, more studies are needed due to the clinical changes observed in patients with tuberculosis after vitamin D supplementation.