Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble secosteroid with central roles in calcium and phosphate homeostasis, skeletal development, and broader endocrine, immune, and neuromuscular regulation.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble secosteroid with central roles in calcium and phosphate homeostasis, skeletal development, and broader endocrine, immune, and neuromuscular regulation. In biomedical research, the term often refers to circulating vitamin D status, commonly assessed as 25-OH vitamin D, as well as the biologically active form 1α,25-(OH)2 vitamin D. Its actions are mediated primarily through the vitamin D receptor, which influences gene transcription and can affect inflammatory signaling, oxidative stress, cell differentiation, and tissue remodeling.
As a therapeutic and preventive target, vitamin D is studied across a wide range of conditions, including obesity-related metabolic dysfunction, osteoporosis, headache, fatty liver disease, vaccine responsiveness, chemotherapy-associated neurotoxicity, and developmental or toxicant-related tissue injury. Recent work also examines how vitamin D status interacts with genetic variation, environmental exposures, and co-interventions such as calcium supplementation.
Where the papers sit
17 papers from the last 6 months study Vitamin D directly · updated from PubMed 12 Oct 2026
Study type 3 clinical trials · 6 observational · 2 human data · 6 preclinical
Themes one subject · 1 new direction
Those 17 are all about one subject.
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Vitamin D Health Effects
Vitamin D status and supplementation are being examined across childhood injury, pregnancy, aging, metabolic disease, cancer toxicity and inflammatory disease. Observational studies link deficiency or insufficiency with adiposity, altered maternal-neonatal lipids and ketones, metabolic-associated fatty liver disease, neurobiological markers and paclitaxel neuropathy, but do not establish causation. Experimental work tests calcitriol or supplementation in melanoma, PCOS, diabetic nephropathy and developmental neurotoxicity, often reporting protective or synergistic effects. A preterm-birth trial protocol and behavioral testing study show that whether these associations should change practice remains open.
Vitamin D testing becomes a target of clinician-behavior intervention rather than a biological exposure or treatment
The subject of the Swiss randomized trial was primary-care physicians’ vitamin D testing, not a disease model or vitamin D treatment. Instead of examining vitamin D as a deficiency, biomarker, or therapeutic agent, the study tested whether personalized peer-comparison feedback and professional norms could change the use of vitamin D tests classified as low-value care. This assigns vitamin D a health-system stewardship role outside the biomedical categories used by the other papers: the relevant intervention is directed at clinicians’ testing behavior rather than patients’ vitamin D status or signaling pathways 42640164Aug.
Papers
The 17 papers from the last 6 months that study Vitamin D directly, newest first, by theme and by study type. Study types come from PubMed publication types and MeSH headings.
By theme
Vitamin D Health Effects (17)
- Vitamin D status and adiposity in children with low-energy fractures: a prospective case-control study. European journal of pediatrics · 8 Oct 2026 PMID 42850326
- Calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D, induces cell death and purinergic signaling modulation in cutaneous melanoma cells. Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 15 Sept 2026 PMID 42742798
- Association of Vitamin D Status with Neurobiological Biomarkers in Healthy Elderly Population. La Clinica terapeutica · 28 Aug 2026 PMID 42664126
- Effect of Peer Comparison Feedback and Professional Norms on Vitamin D Testing and Generic Medication Prescribing. NEJM evidence · 25 Aug 2026 PMID 42640164
- Vitamin D Deficiency During Pregnancy Is Associated With Greater LDL-C Increase, Elevated β-Hydroxybutyrate and Altered Neonatal Metabolic Markers-A Secondary, Pooled Analysis of the Randomized, Controlled Vitamin D and Lifestyle for Gestational Diabetes Prevention Trial (DALI). Endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism · 13 Aug 2026 PMID 42594354
- Sex-divergent metabolic pathways in the association between vitamin D status and metabolic-associated fatty liver disease. Medicine · 25 Jul 2026 PMID 42499071
- Children and young people tested for vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency at a busy children's emergency department in Birmingham, UK: an observational study. BMJ paediatrics open · 15 Jul 2026 PMID 42457392
- Impact of vitamin D levels on disease activity, function and health over 2 years in radiographic axial spondyloarthritis: data from GErman SPondyloarthritis Inception Cohort (GESPIC). RMD open · 15 Jul 2026 PMID 42457207
- Associations between urinary non-essential metal mixture and abdominal obesity in Chinese older adults: the roles of insulin resistance and vitamin D. Environmental geochemistry and health · 12 Jul 2026 PMID 42437414
- Impact of vitamin D supplementation on preterm births and premature rupture of membranes: a study protocol for a double-blind randomised controlled trial. BMJ open · 2 Jul 2026 PMID 42392642
- Synergistic inhibitory effects of combined liposomal formulations of caffeic acid phenethyl ester and vitamin D on melanoma cell proliferation. Molecular biology reports · 24 Jun 2026 PMID 42340491
- Vitamin D regulates lipid metabolism in granulosa cells via the FABP3-associated PI3K/Akt pathway in polycystic ovary syndrome. International immunopharmacology · 16 Jun 2026 PMID 42302377
- Synergistic Renoprotective Effects of Moderate-Intensity Resistance Training and Vitamin D Supplementation on a Type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy Rat Model. FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2 Jun 2026 PMID 42227748
- Morphological, Histochemical, and Proteomic Analysis of the Effects of Fluoride and Amoxicillin, with Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation, on Dental Enamel Formation. Calcified tissue international · 25 May 2026 PMID 42184017
- Vitamin D alleviates neurotoxicity induced by propofol anaesthesia in the offspring of mice. PloS one · 22 May 2026 PMID 42172230
- Pre-treatment vitamin D insufficiency predicts severe paclitaxel-induced sensory neuropathy in breast cancer patients: a prospective cohort study. Scientific reports · 5 May 2026 PMID 42086647
- Vitamin D concentrations and headache risk in children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years: The mediating role of body mass index. Medicine · 1 May 2026 PMID 42065159
By study type
Clinical trials (3)
- Effect of Peer Comparison Feedback and Professional Norms on Vitamin D Testing and Generic Medication Prescribing. NEJM evidence · 25 Aug 2026 PMID 42640164
- Vitamin D Deficiency During Pregnancy Is Associated With Greater LDL-C Increase, Elevated β-Hydroxybutyrate and Altered Neonatal Metabolic Markers-A Secondary, Pooled Analysis of the Randomized, Controlled Vitamin D and Lifestyle for Gestational Diabetes Prevention Trial (DALI). Endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism · 13 Aug 2026 PMID 42594354
- Impact of vitamin D supplementation on preterm births and premature rupture of membranes: a study protocol for a double-blind randomised controlled trial. BMJ open · 2 Jul 2026 PMID 42392642
Observational studies and case reports (6)
- Vitamin D status and adiposity in children with low-energy fractures: a prospective case-control study. European journal of pediatrics · 8 Oct 2026 PMID 42850326
- Association of Vitamin D Status with Neurobiological Biomarkers in Healthy Elderly Population. La Clinica terapeutica · 28 Aug 2026 PMID 42664126
- Sex-divergent metabolic pathways in the association between vitamin D status and metabolic-associated fatty liver disease. Medicine · 25 Jul 2026 PMID 42499071
- Children and young people tested for vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency at a busy children's emergency department in Birmingham, UK: an observational study. BMJ paediatrics open · 15 Jul 2026 PMID 42457392
- Impact of vitamin D levels on disease activity, function and health over 2 years in radiographic axial spondyloarthritis: data from GErman SPondyloarthritis Inception Cohort (GESPIC). RMD open · 15 Jul 2026 PMID 42457207
- Pre-treatment vitamin D insufficiency predicts severe paclitaxel-induced sensory neuropathy in breast cancer patients: a prospective cohort study. Scientific reports · 5 May 2026 PMID 42086647
Human data, design not indexed (2)
- Associations between urinary non-essential metal mixture and abdominal obesity in Chinese older adults: the roles of insulin resistance and vitamin D. Environmental geochemistry and health · 12 Jul 2026 PMID 42437414
- Vitamin D concentrations and headache risk in children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years: The mediating role of body mass index. Medicine · 1 May 2026 PMID 42065159
Preclinical: animal, cell and lab studies (6)
- Calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D, induces cell death and purinergic signaling modulation in cutaneous melanoma cells. Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 15 Sept 2026 PMID 42742798
- Synergistic inhibitory effects of combined liposomal formulations of caffeic acid phenethyl ester and vitamin D on melanoma cell proliferation. Molecular biology reports · 24 Jun 2026 PMID 42340491
- Vitamin D regulates lipid metabolism in granulosa cells via the FABP3-associated PI3K/Akt pathway in polycystic ovary syndrome. International immunopharmacology · 16 Jun 2026 PMID 42302377
- Synergistic Renoprotective Effects of Moderate-Intensity Resistance Training and Vitamin D Supplementation on a Type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy Rat Model. FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2 Jun 2026 PMID 42227748
- Morphological, Histochemical, and Proteomic Analysis of the Effects of Fluoride and Amoxicillin, with Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation, on Dental Enamel Formation. Calcified tissue international · 25 May 2026 PMID 42184017
- Vitamin D alleviates neurotoxicity induced by propofol anaesthesia in the offspring of mice. PloS one · 22 May 2026 PMID 42172230
Written from 17 PubMed abstracts, each one listed by PMID above. Published: 2026-06-16. Last written: 2026-09-17 by GPT. Drafted by language models from published abstracts; not medical advice.