Background:Vitamin D which is involved in the maintenance of bone mineral homeostasis has been found to portray various pleiotropic effects. Although it has been widely accepted that serum 25-hydroxy Vitamin D level above 30 ng/ml is considered optimal for the biological actions of Vitamin D, there is a need to explore the levels of Vitamin D reported among Indians from various regions of the country. Hence, this systematic review aims to appraise the status of Vitamin D levels reported from apparently healthy Indians across various parts of India.Methodology:A comprehensive literature search was carried out to identify the range of Vitamin D levels among apparently healthy individuals from various parts of India, with the search term “Vitamin D and India” in the search portals of PubMed, Google Scholar, Indmed, and ScienceDirect. A total of 2998 articles were retrieved by the above search strategy, of which only forty studies fulfilled the criteria to be included in the systematic review. Studies done in various states were compiled under the respective zones based on the classification of Indian zones as specified in Zonal maps of India.Results:The level of Vitamin D from all the forty included studies ranged from 3.15 ± 1.4 to 52.9 ± 33.7 ng/ml. The effect size of Vitamin D level was higher in the South Zone compared to other zones.Conclusion:The present study shows that Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent among apparently healthy Indians living in different regions of India, irrespective of their exposure to sunlight.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Background:Vitamin D levels are reported to have an inverse liaison with the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Hence, we aimed to evaluate the effect of Vitamin D supplementation on changes in vascular functions and oxidative stress in type 2 diabetic patients with Vitamin D deficiency.Subjects and Methods:One hundred and three patients with type 2 diabetes attending endocrinology outpatients department in a tertiary care hospital were screened for Vitamin D deficiency. Patients with serum 25-hydroxy Vitamin D levels <20 ng/ml were considered as deficient and were administered 60,000 IU of oral Vitamin D3 weekly for 8 weeks. In these patients, parameters of vascular functions (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, and arterial stiffness index) and oxidative stress (serum malondialdehyde levels and total antioxidant status) were measured at baseline and after 8 weeks of oral Vitamin D supplementation.Results:Among 103 patients with type 2 diabetes, 75 (72.82%) were found to have Vitamin D deficiency. Amidst these patients, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (991.6 ± 161.82 vs. 899.29 ± 151.86, P < 0.001), right brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (1446.16 ± 204.33 vs. 1350.8 ± 178.39, P < 0.001), and left brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (1493.81 ± 219.65 vs. 1367.61 ± 220.64, P < 0.001) showed a significant reduction following Vitamin D supplementation. Further, these patients were found to have significant fall in serum malondialdehyde levels with rise in total antioxidant status ensuing Vitamin D supplementation.Conclusion:The present study shows that oral Vitamin D supplementation of 60,000 IU/week for 8 weeks significantly improves vascular functions and reduces oxidative stress in type 2 diabetic patients with Vitamin D deficiency.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently published the third revised guidelines “National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health-Related Research Involving Human Participants” in 2017. The changes to the guidelines were needed to acculturate the rapid advances in the research environment and advances in science and technology. The revised guidelines propose substantial changes/ modifications compared to the previous version. These include the introduction of broad consent, ethical issues related to deception, review of multi-centric research by a single ethics committee and ethical issues involved in implementation research and other issues related to public health research. The revised guidelines also incorporate modifications and minor changes to the previous version. Although most of the changes in the revised guidelines are in parallel to most of the international guidelines, we have also highlighted the minor differences compared to other international guidelines.

No abstract

Although rickets was prevalent from time immemorial, there was lack of knowledge regarding its etiology and treatment, until the discovery of vitamin D. 1 In 1890, it was observed that prevalence of rickets was more in London compared to that in the tropical zones like India and China. This observation led to the speculation that exposure to sunlight was essential for prevention of rickets. 2 Similarly experiments by Mellan by et al. 3 in the year 1919, found that cod liver oil could cure rickets in dogs retained indoors without access to sunlight. The study concluded that probably vitamin A or a similar substance present in cod liver oil was responsible for the improvement in symptoms of rickets in the dogs and that rickets was produced due to deficiency of vitamin A in the diet. However, a subsequent study done by McCollum et al. 4 in the year 1922, revealed that a new fat soluble vitamin (which they named as vitamin D) distinct from vitamin A, was responsible for the cure of rickets in dogs. This discovery was based on the finding that cod liver oil with vitamin A destroyed by oxidation, could not prevent the occurrence of xerophthalmia but still demonstrated the antirachitic effect in dogs. Following its discovery, various researchers like Windaus, Thiele, Schenck and Werder identified the structure and properties of vitamin D, which is derived from both plant and animal sources. 5 VITAMIN D-A VITAMIN OR PROHORMONE? Vitamin a micronutrient, essential for the survival of an organism is not synthesized in the body but is derived from dietary sources. Although vitamin D was initially classified as a vitamin, accumulating evidence indicated that it can be produced in our body with the help of ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, thus violating the definition of a vitamin. Thus, vitamin D is now thought to be a prohormone which on subsequent activation in the body gets converted to its active form 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D which functions like a hormone (produced in one part of