A trial led by Mitsuyoshi Urashima and conducted by the Division of Molecular Epidemiology in the the Department of Pediatrics at the Jikei University School of Medicine Minato-ku in Tokyo involved 334 school children, half of whom were given 1200 IUs per day of vitamin D3 and half a placebo for three months from December 2008 to March 2009.

They found that only 18 of 167 (10.8%) children in the vitamin D3 group got 'flu during this period while 31 of 167 (18.6%) children in the placebo group got it. The reduction in influenza was more apparent in children who had not been taking other vitamin D supplements and who started nursery school after age of three. In children with a previous diagnosis of asthma, asthma attacks as a secondary outcome occurred in 2 children receiving vitamin D3 compared with 12 children receiving placebo.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (March 10, 2010).

First Published in March 2010

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