Improvement of vitamin D status resulted in amelioration of biomarkers of systemic inflammation in the subjects with type 2 diabetes

Background Both vitamin D deficiency and inflammation have been linked to cardiovascular disease, the major cause of death in diabetes. In this study, the effects of daily intake of vitamin D-fortified yoghourt drink (doogh) on systemic inflammatory biomarkers in subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2D) were investigated. Subjects and methods In this 12-week randomized controlled trial, T2D subjects received either plain doogh (PD; containing 170?mg calcium and no detectable vitamin D/250?mL, n1?=?50) or vitamin D3-fortified doogh (FD; containing 170?mg calcium and 500?IU/250?mL, n2?=?50) twice a day. Glycemic status, body fat mass and systemic inflammatory biomarkers including serum highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), interleukin(IL)-2, IL-6, IL-10 and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-a were evaluated at the beginning and after the intervention. Data were expressed as either mean?+/-?SD or median (interquartile range) whenever they had either normal or non-normal distribution, respectively. Results In the patients receiving the vitamin D fortified drink, compared with those receiving the unfortified drink, a significant increase in serum 25(OH)D was accompanied by significant changes in TNF-a (-57.9 (-264.6) versus +106.3 (683.2), p?=?0.044), IL-6 (-6.3 (-69.2), p?=?0.002), hsCRP (-0.39 (-1.50) versus +0.8 (1.52), p?<?0.001), SAA (-14.2?+/-?44.5 versus +5.6?+/-?37.5?mg/L, p?=?0.022) and IL-10 (+38.7?+/-?157.0 versus -51.9?+/-?165.2?ng/L, p?=?0.013). The between-group differences of hsCRP, SAA and IL-6 changes remained significant even after controlling for changes quantitative insulin check index (p?<?0.001, p?<?0.001 and p?=?0.009, respectively). Conclusions Improvement of vitamin D status of T2D subjects resulted in amelioration of the systemic inflammatory markers. This may have preventive implications against cardiovascular disease and other diabetic complications. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.