Vitamin D helps the absorption of calcium and phosphate from food and is essential in the formation of bones and teeth. A Vitamin D deficiency can cause rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults
A new review of existing studies, and analysis of their results in light of current science suggests that Vitamin D may have a role in preventing tooth decay. Although not cast doubt on the role of Vitamin D to support bone health, has historically been a major disagreement about their role in caries prevention.
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Among other functions, vitamin D helps the absorption of calcium and phosphate from food and is essential in the formation of bones and teeth. A deficiency of Vitamin D can have bad consequences for bone growth and cause rickets in children and osteoporosis in adults. There are two main sources of generation of Vitamin D. One is through the skin, induction of ultraviolet rays, as is the case when we take the sun. The other, from foods rich in Vitamin D. In sunny countries, people do not usually become deficient in this vitamin. The little sunny dwellers themselves are at risk for such deficiency unless your diet is sufficiently rich in Vitamin D.
The new review, conducted by Dr. Philippe Hujoel, University of Washington, comprised 24 trials, covering the period between 1920 and 1980 on about 3,000 children in several countries. These trials showed that vitamin D was associated with a reduction of about 50 percent in the incidence of caries.
Clinical trials reviewed by Dr. Hujoel were carried out in the USA, UK, Canada, Austria, New Zealand and Sweden. The tests were conducted in institutional settings, schools, medical and dental clinics, or hospitals. The ages of the study subjects were between 2 and 16 years. The trials included children in whom vitamin D levels increased by using additional UV or supplementing their diet with cod liver oil or other products that contain this vitamin in significant quantities.
Although the findings of this review of clinical trial results are encouraging, more research is needed before we can make a conclusive opinion, since, as says Dr. Hujoel, these clinical trials have weaknesses that could have distorted the results, and most trial participants lived in a time in which the environment was very different from today.
The issue of Vitamin D is increasingly important in countries where vitamin D levels are declining, while the incidence of tooth decay in young children is increasing. It is debatable whether this is something more than a mere coincidence, but in any case it seems reasonable to do everything possible to prevent deficiency of vitamin D.
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