Vitamine D tegen spierpijn*
Uit een kleine Nederlandse studie blijkt dat extra vitamine D bij patiënten met chronische spierpijn de pijn duidelijk kan verlagen. Deelnemers kregen of een hoge
dosis vitamine D ( 3.750 mcg) of een placebo. Na zes weken bleken zij in de vitaminegroep duidelijk minder pijn
te ervaren en konden zij ook beter traplopen. Nu kreeg de placebogroep de hoge dosis vitamine D en de andere groep of een dosis vitamine of een placebo. Weer zes weken verder waren de verbeteringen hoofdzakelijk te zien in die patiënten die 2x een dosis vitamine D gekregen hadden. Verder onderzoek is nodig, op grotere schaal, langere termijn en nog hogere dosis vitamine D om te kijken of de resultaten dan nog beter worden. Ondertussen adviseren de onderzoekers om extra vitamine D te nemen, het is ongevaarlijk en goedkoop en kan wel eens helpen.
Vitamin D Improves Nonspecific Musculoskeletal Pain
Vitamin D supplements can improve nonspecific musculoskeletal pain in non-Western immigrants, according to research from The Netherlands.
"If you have patients with long lasting non-specific musculoskeletal problems, find out if vitamin D level is too low and - if so - try to help them with vitamin D supplementation," Dr. Ferdinand Schreuder from Erasmus MC, Rotterdam advised in an email to Reuters Health.
Dr. Schreuder and colleagues investigated the effects of high-dose vitamin D (150,000 IU) supplementation on nonspecific musculoskeletal symptoms in 79 non-Western immigrants (mainly from the Middle East, Turkey, northern Africa, and Somalia).
As reported in the November/December Annals of Family Medicine, patients were initially randomized to vitamin D or placebo. After six weeks, those initially randomized to vitamin D were randomized to another dose of vitamin D or placebo and those initially randomized to placebo all received high-dose vitamin D.
After the first six weeks, significantly more patients in the treatment group reported improvement in pain (34.9% vs 19.5%; p=0.04).
Also at six weeks, significantly more patients in the vitamin D group reported improvement in their ability to walk stairs ( 21.0% vs 8.4%; p=0.008).
Improvement in visual analog scale scores for pain and for ability to walk stairs did not differ significantly between the groups.
At week 12, the only significant difference in self-assessed pain was a greater improvement in the vitamin D-vitamin D group than in the placebo-vitamin D group (p=0.005).
There were no adverse events associated with high-dose vitamin D supplementation.
Six weeks into the study, the mean level of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D in the study population had risen from 20 to 63.5 nmol/L. By 12 weeks, the mean value had dropped below 40 nmol/L. These results led the researchers to speculate that the dose of vitamin D "may have been too low to achieve the full desired impact."
"Although the mechanisms of this benefit are still debatable," the investigators conclude, "future investigation should involve greater numbers of participants and focus on longer follow-up, higher supplementation doses, and mental health."
In the meantime, Dr. Schreuder encouraged the use of vitamin D in this setting. "It's harmless and cheap and it might help," he said.
Ann Fam Med 2012;10:547-555. (November 2012)
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