Adding vitamin D to standard tuberculosis treatment is not beneficial, finds study

Supplementing conventional tuberculosis treatment with vitamin D does not shorten the time taken to clear the infection, a study conducted at 13 sites in Tamil Nadu, India, has found.

The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, found that although supplementation with a high dose of vitamin D seemed to be safe, it did not seem to be beneficial to patients with an active tuberculosis infection.1

Vitamin D has immunomodulatory effects, and previous in vitro experiments and trials have indicated its potential usefulness as an adjunct to tuberculosis therapy. In south India, people with active …