Assessment of Vitamin D in Colonic Diseases (Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Irritable Bowel Syndrome)

Abstract

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble steroid hormone that is mainly produced as a result of UVB exposure to the skin and then conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol to vitamin D in the skin. Vitamin D is essential to different organs and systems in the body as the bones, intestines, immune and cardiovascular systems, pancreas, muscles, brain, and the control of cell cycles. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an idiopathic, chronic, disease that is characterized by relapsing and remitting course of inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. It is classified into Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), in addition there is IBD unclassified (IBD-U) (patients who have colonic involvement without typical finding for CD or UC). Diagnosis depends on combined clinical manifestation, laboratory, endoscopic, histological, and radiological features. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder that is partly explained by a disorder of gut–brain axis. Also, it is postulated that changes in the gut micro flora, immune function, and psychosocial status