Study finds vitamin D is critical in human immune response to tuberculosis

"Vitamin D is needed to activate the immune system's response to tuberculosis (TB)," a finding that "could lead to new treatments for the lung disease," researchers from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) said in a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, Agence France-Presse reports. "Researchers have long known that vitamin D plays a role in the body's response to TB, but the study ... shows it must be present in adequate levels to trigger the immune response," AFP writes.

"The team notes that vitamin D may help both innate and adaptive immunity, two systems that work synergistically together to fight infections," the Times of India reports (10/13). "This finding could be crucial to efforts to treat the disease in parts of the world like Africa, because people with dark skin ... are more likely to have vitamin D deficiencies," AFP notes (10/12).