In a recent article, Dr. James Dowd explains how vitamin D deficiency during early childhood and development contributes to autoimmune disease.
Vitamin D is an important regulator of Dendritic Cell function. Dendrites are immune system cells that help initiate the immune response. When vitamin D levels are low, dendrites react erratically and launch an attack on the body's own cells. The immune response is further affected by diet and other nutrients.
Researchers have found that inadequate vitamin D and other nutrients during immune system development (up to first 2 years of life) before birth and during childhood play critical roles in the development of autoimmune disease. The symptoms of many of these diseases don't emerge until decades after errors in immune system development have occurred.
Persistent vitamin D deficiency and inadequate nutrition through adolescence and with age-reglated changes amplify risks for development of a multitude of health problems, including autoimmune diseases, obesity, hypertension and cancer later in life.
In Finland 40 years ago, it was publich health policy to administer 2,000 IU of vitamin D in the form of cod liver oil to infants through their first year of life to prevent Rickets. Cod liver is also high in vitamin A and omega-3 fats. Research in 2001 showed that children who took cod liver oil had an 80 percent lower risk of developing the autoimmune disorder juvenile (tye 1) diabetes. Children who developed vitamin D deficiency rickets were 3 times more likely to develop type 1 diabetes.
Source:
James Dowd, Vitamin D: A Missing Link in Autoimmunity, Advance for Laboratory Administrators, July 2009.