Researchers have said taking vitamin D can reduce the risk of having a severe asthma attack, according to a study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal.
File photo
Asthma sufferers could halve their risk of suffering a severe attack which requires hospital simply by taking a vitamin D supplement, a new study suggests.
Researchers at Queen Mary University of London found that the number of people visiting A&E because of an attack dropped from six per cent to three per cent in people taking vitamin pills.
There was also a 30 per cent reduction in the number of asthma sufferers requiring treatment or steroids for attacks.
The report authors say supplements are a cheap and effective way of cutting down on potentially deadly attacks.
"These results add to the ever growing body of evidence that vitamin D can support immune function as well as bone health," said lead researcher Professor Adrian Martineau.
“Vitamin D is safe to take and relatively inexpensive so supplementation represents a potentially cost-effective strategy to reduce this problem.”
Around 5.4 million people in Britain need treatment for asthma, a respiratory condition which kills three people each day.
Asthma deaths arise primarily as symptoms worsen, often due to during viral upper respiratory infections.
Vitamin D is thought to protect against such attacks by boosting immune responses to respiratory viruses and dampening down harmful airway inflammation.
Although the vitamin is produced in the body when exposed to sunlight, the researchers said it was difficult for people in Britain to soak up enough sunshine and recommended pills.
"In the UK, sunlight only contains enough UVB to stimulate production of vitamin D in the skin between April and October – in Winter and early Spring, it won’t provide any vitamin D," added Prof Martineau.
"UVB is also a risk factor for skin cancer of course – so from a safety perspective it makes sense to be careful with exposure to sunlight, and keep vitamin D levels up during winter and early spring by taking a regular supplement."