What role does vitamin D play in lung health, function, and development, and can vitamin D prevent asthma occurrence or reduce asthma symptoms?
Research by Dr. Scott Weiss and his team has demonstrated the multiple effects of prenatal vitamin D on maternal and newborn health, with health benefits extending well into the childhood years. One of their most significant findings was the relationship between vitamin D and improved lung function with a reduction in the incidence of asthma.
Tune in on Wednesday 2/4 at 11am PT, when GrassrootsHealth will be hosting Dr. Weiss for this “Vitamin D Study Hour” to focus on the role of vitamin D in lung function with a special focus on asthma. Dr. Weiss will also be including data from another of his recent publications on the distribution of vitamin D and its metabolites throughout the body, uncovering which tissues and organs store and use the most vitamin D.
Your homework assignment for this study hour is to:
- Read the paper “Prenatal vitamin D supplementation to prevent childhood asthma: 15-year results from the Vitamin D Antenatal Asthma Reduction Trial (VDAART)”
- Read the paper “Vitamin D beyond the blood: Tissue distribution of vitamin D metabolites after supplementation”
- Read the blog and watch the video here: Lessons Learned from an RCT on Prenatal Vitamin D and Asthma
Submit your questions ahead of time for this or any one of our upcoming Vitamin D Study Hour webinars here: https://www.grassrootshealth.
About Dr. Scott Weiss
Dr. Scott Weiss, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Professor of Environmental Health in the Respiratory Biology Program, and a physician in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Brigham Women’s Hospital. He is also the former Scientific Director of Personalized Medicine at Partners HealthCare System and Co-Leader of the Systems Genetics and Genomics Unit and Associate Director of the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham. The research facilities he oversees use state-of-the-art technologies and methods for genetic and genomic research. He co-led a 30-investigator, 110-person research group involved in examining the environmental exposures and genetic risk factors for the development of asthma and COPD, and has led multi-disciplinary cooperative studies of asthma and COPD with international experience.
Dr. Weiss has authored or co-authored over 600 papers and co-written and co-edited 4 books, including a comprehensive textbook on Respiratory Genetics. He has received many honors and awards, including the American Thoracic Society Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishments “Reduced Vitamin D Levels in Pregnant Women are the Cause of the Asthma Epidemic” and was recently identified as part of the top 0.004% of biomedical researchers in terms of the scientific impact of their work.
