• Skip to content
  • Skip to footer
  • Accessibility options
University of Brighton
  • About us
  • Business and
    employers
  • Alumni and
    supporters
  • For
    students
  • For
    staff
  • Accessibility
    options
Open menu
Home
Home
  • Close
  • Study
    • Courses and subjects
    • Find a course
    • A-Z course list
    • Explore our subjects
    • Academic departments
    • Visiting the university
    • Explore online
    • Online events
    • Virtual tours
    • Chat to our students and staff
    • Open days
    • Applicant days
    • Order a prospectus
    • Ask a question
    • Studying here
    • Clearing 2021
    • Accommodation and locations
    • Applying
    • Undergraduate
    • Postgraduate
    • Transferring from another university
    • The Student Contract
    • International students
    • Fees and finance
    • Advice and help
    • Advice for students
    • Advice for parents and carers
    • Advice for schools and teachers
    • Managing your application
    • Undergraduate
    • Postgraduate
  • Research and enterprise
    • Research and enterprise
    • Research and enterprise organisation
    • Brighton Futures – our themes
    • Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence (COREs)
    • Research and Enterprise Groups (REGs)
    • Our research database
    • Information for business
    • Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP)
    • Postgraduate research degrees
    • PhD research disciplines and programmes
    • PhD funding opportunities and studentships
    • How to apply for your PhD
    • Research environment
    • Investing in research careers
    • Strategic plan
    • Research concordat
    • News, events, publications and films
    • Research and enterprise news
    • Research and enterprise public events
    • Inaugural lectures
    • Research publications and films
    • Academic staff search
  • About us
  • Business and employers
  • Alumni, supporters and giving
  • Current students
  • Staff
  • Accessibility
Search our site
Strand-banner-image
Centre for Stress and Age-Related Disease
  • What we do
  • Who we work with
  • Study or work with us
  • Who we are
  • What we do
    • What we do
    • Cell biology
    • Chemical biology
    • Our research and enterprise impact
    • Our research and enterprise projects
    • Translational sciences
  • Our research and enterprise projects
    • Our research and enterprise projects
    • A computational protocol to model organophosphonate CWAs and their simulants
    • A reactive oxygen and nitrogen species monitoring system to study their role in cancer
    • Amphiphilic-polymer-based-enhancers-for-local-drugs-delivery-to-the-inner-ear
    • Antibiotic efficacy in treating wound infection
    • Antioxidative enzymes
    • BK channels as Pharmacological targets for therapeutic intervention
    • Clinically reflective cellular model systems for Type 1 diabetes
    • Combating disorders of CNS myelination
    • Controlling infection in urinary catheters
    • C-Stress project
    • Development of a novel platform for local targeted treatment of cardiovascular disease
    • Development of an infection detecting wound dressing
    • Effects of age on signalling and function in the lower bowel
    • Effects of age on the central nervous system
    • Electrochemical sensor devices to understand ageing and disease mechanisms
    • Exploiting genomics to understand the role of vitamin D in human health and metabolism
    • Exploring the role of ADRB2 in triple negative breast cancer
    • Faecal sensor
    • Galactosemia – protein misfolding diseases which result in cellular stress
    • Hepatic disease
    • HIIT for Health
    • Identifying small molecules to remove or modify the phenotype of ageing cells
    • Increasing insulin production
    • Infection detecting wound dressing
    • Inflammation and Immunity
    • Modelling of cellular phospholipid homeostasis
    • Novel explanation for NSAID-induced cardiovascular side effects
    • organ of Corti
    • Pancreatic islet cell replacement and transplantation
    • PHOTORELEASE
    • Pillar(5)arenes
    • PPARβδ control of inflammation
    • Probing ion transport mechanisms with synthetic ion channels
    • Proteomic and genomic analysis of cellular stress responses
    • Quantifying-a-biophysical-model-of-lipid-protein
    • SensoPellet
    • Sex determination of human remains from peptides in tooth enamel
    • Stress hormones in BRCA mutation carriers
    • Switchable Molecules: A Radical Approach
    • Switchable surfactants in drug delivery
    • Synthesis and evaluation of Resveratrol derivatives
    • The effects of pre-natal alcohol on adolescent learning and memory
    • Translational regulation of stress responses and antibiotic production in Streptomyces bacteria
    • Type 1 Diabetes – cause and cure
    • Type 2 Diabetes
    • Understanding how social isolation increases morbidity and mortality
  • Exploiting genomics to understand the role of vitamin D in human health and metabolism

Exploiting genomics to understand the role of vitamin D in human health and metabolism

Vitamin D is essential to human health. It is crucial for bone and muscle health and it is important for protection against many diseases including hypertension, infection, autoimmune diseases, diabetes and cancer. Vitamin D deficiency is widespread among the population and is a major public health concern in the UK and many other countries worldwide. Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is the natural form that is made by our skin when exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation in sunlight and obtained from some animal-derived foods, while vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) is obtainable from supplements and some artificially fortified foods and is generally manufactured by UV-irradiating mushrooms. At the latitude of the UK there is only sufficient UVB radiation from sunlight between the months of April and September and therefore it is recommended that we take vitamin D3 supplements between October and March. The new government guidelines (July 2016) are that we take 10 micrograms vitamin D per day.

The project is being conducted in the Brighton Genomics facility.

Project timeframe

This project commenced in 2011 and is ongoing.

Project aims

Our over-arching aim is to understand how vitamin D supplementation influences gene expression in humans. To do this we analyse genome-wide expression in whole human blood across time following vitamin D supplementation. We are currently undertaking this study with healthy white European and South Asian women, the latter to explore whether there may be ethnic differences in the response to elevated levels of vitamin D in the body. We are investigating the global influence of the two different forms of vitamin D: D2 and D3. Vitamin D2 is generally used by vegans, vegetarians and Muslims.

This work was supported by DRINC, a partnership between BBSRC, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Medical Research Council (MRC), and a consortium of leading food and drink companies.

 

 

Project findings and impact

Vitamin D3 was found to be significantly better at raising serum total 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels than vitamin D2; The concentration of 25(OH)D is used as a measure of how efficiently vitamin D is assimilated in the body. The results of our initial genomic analysis are striking. Significantly, we have discovered that the two forms of vitamin D influence expression of different cellular pathways, where vitamin D3 influences far more genes than D2. This raises the intriguing possibility that vitamin D2 may not be exerting the same biological influence in humans. The interpretation and further validation of these findings is ongoing. Ultimately, the results of our study are likely to have a very high societal and economic impact because they may ultimately influence national and international guidelines on the fortification of foods with vitamin D2.

Research Team

Prof Colin P. Smith

Dr Giselda Bucca

Dr Andy Hesketh

Output

Tripkovic, L., Wilson, L., Hart, K., Johnsen, Sig, de Lusignan, Simon, Smith, Colin, Bucca, Giselda, Penson, S., Chope, G.and Elliott, R. (2017) Daily supplementation with 15 µg vitamin D2 compared with vitamin D3 to increase wintertime 25-hydroxyvitamin D status in healthy South Asian and white European women: a 12-wk randomized, placebo-controlled food-fortification trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 106 (2). pp. 481-490. ISSN 0002-9165

Tripkovic, L., Wilson, L., Hart, K., Elliott, R., Smith, Colin, Bucca, Giselda, Penson, S., Chope, G., Hypponen, E., Berry, J. and Lanham-New, S. (2015) The D2-D3 Study: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled food-fortification trial in women, comparing the efficacy of 15 microgram/d vitamin D2 vs vitamin D3 in raising serum 25OHD levels. In: Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, Summer Meeting, Carbohydrates in health: friends or foes, UK, 2014.

Wilson, L., Hart, K., Elliott, R., Smith, Colin, Bucca, Giselda, Penson, S., Chope, G., Hypponen, E., Berry, J. and Lanham-New, S. (2015) The D2-D3 Study: comparing the efficacy of 15 microgram/d vitamin D2 vs. D3 in raising vitamin D status in both South Asian and Caucasian women, and the ethical implications of placebo treatment. In: Proceedings of the nutrition society (2015), Carbohydrates in health: friends or foes, UK.

Partners

Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Surrey

Campden BRI, UK.

Back to top
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn icon

Contact us

University of Brighton
Mithras House
Lewes Road
Brighton
BN2 4AT

Main switchboard 01273 600900

Course enquiries

Sign up for updates

University contacts

Report a problem with this page

Quick links

  • Courses
  • Open days
  • Order a prospectus
  • Academic departments
  • Academic staff
  • Professional services departments
  • Jobs
  • Privacy and cookie policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Libraries
  • Term dates
  • Maps
  • Graduation
  • Site information
  • Online shop
  • COVID-19

Information for

  • Current students
  • International students
  • Media/press
  • Careers advisers/teachers
  • Parents/carers
  • Business/employers
  • Alumni/supporters
  • Suppliers
  • Local residents