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[–]ActuallyNot 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Some German scientists found that Vitamin D is very effective in boosting the inmune system

What does that mean?

Does it mean that it also increases autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and allergies?

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

Not necessarily. Immune response is complicated as hell.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166406/

Deficiency in vitamin D is associated with increased autoimmunity as well as an increased susceptibility to infection. As immune cells in autoimmune diseases are responsive to the ameliorative effects of vitamin D, the beneficial effects of supplementing vitamin D deficient individuals with autoimmune disease may extend beyond the effects on bone and calcium homeostasis.

Vitamin D has also been shown to facilitate progression of existing autoimmune disease. In one study, 161 patients with an early undifferentiated connective tissue disease were followed for a mean of over 2 years[25]. Most patients did not progress and remained in an undifferentiated state. Thirty-five (21%) patients went on to develop a defined rheumatologic diagnosis including RA, SLE, Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, and Sjogren’s Disease while 126 did not progress. Baseline characteristics of the two groups were similar. Importantly, the mean vitamin D level was significantly lower in the group that progressed to a definitive disease.

[–]ActuallyNot 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Right.

I wonder what he meant by "boosting the inmune system".

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Alright, did you read the entirety of the study that I linked over to you? I'll need to know what parts you're looking at and have questions on in particular to try to help. It goes over the immunomodulatory effects that vitamin D has, and how it's understood to be utilized within the immune response processes. So boosting the immune system likely just means making it more efficient, and providing it with adequate amounts of sufficient systemic vitamin D to use.

The extrarenal 1-α-hydroxylase enzyme in macrophages differs from the renal hydroxylase as it is not regulated by PTH[5]. Instead, it is dependent upon circulating levels of 25 D or it may be induced by cytokines such as IFN-γ, IL-1 or TNF-α[6]. Furthermore, the macrophage 24 hydroxylase enzyme is a non-functional splice variant, so there is no negative feedback of local 1,25 D production by 1,25 D.

[–]ActuallyNot 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

So "boosting" here means having it working, as opposed to limited by vitamin D insufficiency.

What do you think he means by "The whole immune system would become measurably stronger by a factor of 3 to 5 times"?

Is there one number that measures the whole immune system?

And your link only talks about the effect on the adaptive immune system. The whole immune system would normally include the primary immune responses too wouldn't it?