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July 20th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda FRIDAY, July 20 (HealthDay News) — Among smokers, lung function
may decline faster in those who have a vitamin D deficiency than in those
with normal vitamin D levels, a new study suggests.
However, although boosting levels of vitamin D may offer some
protection to the lungs from the effects of smoking, it won’t prevent
deteriorating lung function or smoking-related health problems, such as
heart disease, stroke and cancer, the researchers warned.
“Vitamin D, possibly due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
effects, could provide a small amount of protection against lung damage
that occurs from smoking,” said lead researcher Dr. Nancy Lange, of the
Channing Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“If these findings are replicated in other studies and interventional
trials, vitamin D supplementation could have the potential to provide some
protection against the damage to lung function that is due to smoking,”
she said.
Lange emphasized that the effect was small and “the most important
intervention, for both lung and overall health, is for people to stop
smoking.”
The report was released online July 19 in advance of print publication
in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care
Medicine.
For the study, Lange’s team collected data on more than 600 white men
who were part of an ongoing, long-term study on aging. Among these men,
the researchers looked for an association between vitamin D and lung
function.
Over 20 years of follow-up, the investigators found that lung function
among smokers with normal levels of vitamin D deteriorated less than that
of smokers with below normal levels of this vitamin.
Vitamin D, however, does not have a significant effect on lung function
for either good or bad when looking at smokers and nonsmokers combined,
the researchers noted.
Limitations of the study include its observational design and changing
levels of vitamin D over time. In addition, the findings may not apply to
other groups as all of the participants were older men, the study authors
pointed out.
Dr. Arunabh Talwar, director of the advanced lung disease program at
North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, N.Y., said that “this tells
us that in smokers, if we can prevent vitamin D deficiency, we can slow
decline in lung function.”
Although everybody loses some lung function as they age, smokers lose
lung function faster than nonsmokers, Talwar noted. “Vitamin D deficiency
is probably making it worse,” he said.
Talwar stressed that taking vitamin D is not a substitute for quitting
smoking. Smokers are also at increased risk for heart attack, stroke and
cancer, he noted.
Another expert, Dr. Michael Holick, a professor of medicine, physiology
and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine, added that “this
is consistent with other findings about vitamin D and lung function.”
For example, children who are vitamin D deficient are more likely to
develop wheezing and asthma, he pointed out.
“It’s not a surprise that smokers who are vitamin D deficient have
poorer lung function,” Holick said. There are also some studies that
suggest that smoking actually decreases vitamin D levels, he noted.
“It may be that vitamin D plays a role in maintaining healthy lung
tissue,” Holick said. But, he added, “I am not recommending that you take
vitamins to counteract the negative effects of smoking on lung function.”
While the study found an association between vitamin D and smokers’
lung function, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
More information
For information on quitting smoking, visit Smokefree.gov.
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