A new study reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has suggested an association between serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and gingival inflammation.

This retrospective research used data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the USA. Compared with sites in subjects in the lowest 25(OH)D quintile, sites in subjects in the highest 25(OH)D quintile were 20% less likely to bleed on gingival probing (P for trend < 0.001). The association appeared to be linear over the entire 25(OH)D range, was consistent across racial or ethnic groups, and was similar among men and women as well as among users and nonusers of vitamin and mineral supplements.

The research group from Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine, concluded that Vitamin D has been shown to have immunomodulatory effects in in vitro and in animal studies. However, data from clinical studies of inflammatory diseases are scarce. This study, however suggests that Vitamin D may reduce susceptibility to gingival inflammation through its antiinflammatory effects. Gingivitis may be a useful clinical model to evaluate the antiinflammatory effects of vitamin D.

For the full report see American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 82, No. 3, 575-580, September 2005

Posted 1st October 2005