Vitamin D prevents bone disorders in patients with chronic kidney disease

In a study, researchers from India and the U.K. have found that calcitriol, the most active biological form of vitamin D, can be used to treat mineral bone disease in patients with chronic kidney disease. The study was published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

• The team used a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial for their research. In the trial, the participants were randomly assigned to take either 300,000 IU of cholecalciferol or a matching placebo. The participants took these at baseline and after eight weeks.
• Patients enrolled in the trial had non-diabetic chronic kidney disease (CKD) at stages G3 and G4 and had serum levels of less than 20 nanograms of vitamin D per milliliter (ng/mL).
• After 16 weeks, patients treated with cholecalciferol had increased levels of serum 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)₂D than those in the placebo group.
• Participants that were given cholecalciferol also had a decrease in intact parathyroid hormone, serum total and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, and serum C-terminal cross-linked collagen type I telopeptides.

In sum, supplementing with cholecalciferol can improve vitamin D deficiency in patients with CKD by lowering intact parathyroid hormone and bone turnover markers.

Read the full text of the study at this link.

Journal Reference:

Yadav AK, Kumar V, Kumar V, Banerjee D, Gupta KL, Jha V. THE EFFECT OF VITAMIN D SUPPLEMENTATION ON BONE METABOLIC MARKERS IN CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. 2017;33(3):404–409. DOI: 10.1002/jbmr.3314