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Vitamin D and the gut microbiome: a systematic review of in vivo studies

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Abstract

Purpose

Variation in the human microbiome has been linked with a variety of physiological functions, including immune regulation and metabolism and biosynthesis of vitamins, hormones, and neurotransmitters. Evidence for extraskeletal effects of vitamin D has been accruing and it has been suggested that the effect of vitamin D on health is partially mediated through the microbiome. We aimed to critically evaluate the evidence linking vitamin D and the gastrointestinal microbiome.

Methods

We systematically searched the Embase, Web of Science, PubMed and CINAHL databases, including peer-reviewed publications that reported an association between a measure of vitamin D and the gastrointestinal microbiome in humans or experimental animals.

Results

We included 10 mouse and 14 human studies. Mouse studies compared mice fed diets containing different levels of vitamin D (usually high versus low), or vitamin D receptor knockout or Cyp27B1 knockout with wild-type mice. Five mouse studies reported an increase in Bacteroidetes (or taxa within that phylum) in the low vitamin D diet or gene knockout group. Human studies were predominantly observational; all but two of the included studies found some association between vitamin D and the gut microbiome, but the nature of differences observed varied across studies.

Conclusions

Despite substantial heterogeneity, we found evidence to support the hypothesis that vitamin D influences the composition of the gastrointestinal microbiome. However, the research is limited, having been conducted either in mice or in mostly small, selected human populations. Future research in larger population-based studies is needed to fully understand the extent to which vitamin D modulates the microbiome.

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Acknowledgements

RE Neale is funded by a fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Mary Waterhouse and Bronwyn Hope: equal first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Population Health Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia

    Mary Waterhouse, Bronwyn Hope, Martha Zakrzewski & Rachel E. Neale

  2. Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, Translational Research Instititute, Brisbane, Australia

    Lutz Krause & Mark Morrison

  3. School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Melinda M. Protani

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  1. Mary Waterhouse
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Contributions

BH and REN conceived the study. BH, REN, and MW identified citations for inclusion and extracted relevant information. LK, MM, MMP and MZ provided critical comment on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rachel E. Neale.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Waterhouse, M., Hope, B., Krause, L. et al. Vitamin D and the gut microbiome: a systematic review of in vivo studies. Eur J Nutr 58, 2895–2910 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-018-1842-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-018-1842-7

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