Severe Vitamin D Deficiency May be an Additional Cofactor for the Occurrence of Alcoholic Steatohepatitis
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, DOI: 10.1111/acer.12728,Article first published online: 2 MAY 2015
Rodolphe Anty1,2,3,*, Clémence M. Canivet2, Stéphanie Patouraux1,3,4, Patricia Ferrari-Panaia4, Marie Christine Saint-Paul4, Pierre-Michel Huet2, Cynthia Lebeaupin1,3, Antonio Iannelli1,2,3, Philippe Gual1,3 andAlbert Tran1,2,3
- Overview Liver and vitamin D contains the following summary
- Fact: A properly functioning liver is needed for the efficient activation of vitamin D in the body
- Fact: Liver diseases often result in lower levels of vitamin D
- Fact: Various pain relievers damage the liver function
- Fact: Lower levels of vitamin D result in osteoporosis and many other diseases
- Options with a poorly functioning liver appear to be:
- Increased vitamin D (example: 2X more vitamin D if Liver is 1/2 as efficient)
- Increase the response you get from vitamin D
- Increase sunshine / UVB,
- Get the response you get from the sun/UVB
- Consider supplementing with Iron - a patented Iron supplement appears to work very well
- Get prescription for active form of vitamin D (Calcitriol) which does not need the liver or kidney to get the benefits of vitamin D in the body
- Get Calcidiol which does not need the liver
- Use Topical Vitamin D - activation by the skin etc does not require the liver
Click on image for ways of getting vitamin D even if Liver is not functioning well
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease associated with much lower vitamin D – Aug 2014
- Poorly functioning livers do not process vitamin D (Calcidiol is needed) – Sept 2014
- Death due to liver problems was 4X more probable with low levels of vitamin D – May 2012
- Hypothesis: Vitamin D would decrease alcohol problems – July 2013
- Alchoholics have low Calcium and low Vitamin D, increasing Vit D might help – Nov 2016
Background
Among its pleiotropic effects, vitamin D may protect the liver from fibrosis and/or inflammation. However, the impact of vitamin D on liver pathology in hepatitis C remains unclear, and very few studies including alcoholic patients with liver pathologies have been performed. Here we compared the levels of 25-OH vitamin D in the blood of alcoholic patients with the occurrence of alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH) or bridging fibrosis.
Methods
One hundred and one alcoholic patients were included. All the patients received a liver biopsy, and the levels of 25-OH vitamin D were evaluated with the Liaison 25-OH vitamin D assay. Logistic regression analyses were performed to obtain predictive factors of liver histology.
Results
Among alcoholic patients, 40.6% presented ASH and 39.6% presented bridging fibrosis. A severe deficiency in 25-OH vitamin D (<10 ng/ml) was seen in 60.4% of patients. This deficiency was frequent in patients with ASH (85.4%) and in those with bridging fibrosis (80%) but was independently associated only with ASH (odds ratio = 8.46 [95% confidence interval 2.05 to 34.89], p = 0.003).
Conclusions
In alcoholic patients, a severe deficiency in 25-OH vitamin D was independently associated with the occurrence of ASH.