Women who get the right amount of vitamin D are less likely to suffer from chronic widespread pain, according to a new study in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.
Previous studies have also found that many people suffering from chronic pain have low vitamin D levels and that supplementing may help relieve certain types of pain.
About 10% of the population suffers from chronic widespread pain, which is pain that occurs on both sides of the body, above and below the waist, and lasts for longer than three months. This is the type of pain that characterizes fibromyalgia syndrome, but it can also occur without fibromyalgia.
The new study aimed to determine the range of vitamin D levels at which people were more likely to experience chronic pain. Almost 7,000 people gave information about bodily pain and had their vitamin D levels measured.
The researchers found that vitamin D status was associated with chronic widespread pain in women but not in men. Chronic pain was least likely to occur in women with the highest vitamin D levels. Women with lower levels were more than 1.5 times as likely to have chronic pain as were women with the highest levels.
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