Research Profiles

Vitamin D (Vitamin D) deficiency affects nearly 50% of global population and its deficiency coupled with low Ca intake during early life, puberty and adulthood, can affect peak bone mass development and has been strongly associated with osteoporosis in the elderly and other non-skeletal conditions . Vitamin D has a profound effect on calcium absorption and bone metabolism by way of influencing bone homeostasis. However, paucity of data exists on the dose responses of Vitamin D supplementation on bone health and the variability in fractional absorption of Ca in both Vitamin D sufficient and deficient states. Furthermore, no data for the Indian population exists in both fronts. Dietary sources of Vitamin D are limited and in resource poor settings such as India where populations consume monotonous plant based diets, meeting the daily requirements of Vitamin D (600 IU/d, ICMR) in the absence of adequate exposure to sunlight may be a challenge. Vitamin D in its hydroxylated form, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD), best reflects body stores (i.e. deficiency <20 ng/ml or sufficiency states >30ng/ml). Studies till date have used 25OHD levels in plasma as a potential indicator of efficacy of Vitamin D supplementation, even though it provides little or no information on principle functions of Vitamin D, like bone metabolism. Hence there is a need for a better functional marker to understand the efficacy of Vitamin D supplementation on bone health. A novel way to evaluate these key questions on 1) the efficacy of Vitamin D supplementation as a function of bone health, 2) the optimal 25OHD plasma level as defined by bone resorption, and 3) the variability in fractional absorption of Ca with Vitamin D status is through the use of stable Ca isotope measurements. Calcium has six naturally occurring stable isotopic forms (40Ca, 42Ca, 43Ca, 44Ca, 46Ca, 48Ca) and a combination of these isotopes, measured in urine, could be used to address the questions proposed here.

Impact of high indoor CO2 exposure has not been studied in detail in an academic occupational setting, especially in Qatar, albeit the existence of a clear cause and effect between high CO2 concentration and declining global health. In order to understand the enormity of health effect that arises from increasing CO2 concentrations, especially within indoor settings, there is a need to look at it from the perspective of global changes in climate and population. In this context, the current study focuses on continuous CO2 concentration monitoring at different indoor locations within an occupational setting to see the variability in concentration and model the observed variability as a function of population density, mimicking the global changes in climate and population in line with the current trends in global Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions.

Association between low vitamin D status and a wide array of chronic diseases, such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular diseases have been widely reported in the scientific literature. Recently, a plethora of cross-sectional studies indicated that supplementation of vitamin D is reducing infection risk of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, in contrary, a number of studies also indicated that vitamin D has negligent or no effect on COVID-19 outcomes. Among the treating hospital community a consensus doesn’t exist and unnecessary supplementation of vitamin D targeting reduced risks for COVID-19 incidence is also being questioned. In addition, there exist uncertainties at theoretical and clinical levels on the actual role of Vitamin D in reducing COVID-19 associated risk. The current study looks into the existing research in literature and the requirement of subsequent reviews on the topic