Vitamin D in Ethnic Groups

This project will investigate whether there is a link between vitamin D (dietary intake and nutritional status) and markers of immune health in ethnic groups using; 1) a population-based approach - (i) systematic review/meta-analysis of globally available data on vitamin D and upper/lower respiratory tract infections/COVID-19; (ii) analysis of vitamin D and markers of immune health in the UK Biobank; specifically on white Caucasian and ethnic groups; 2) a mechanistic approach - (i) to examine the relationship between the cytokine 'storm' and vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency in White European, South Asian, Black Afro-Caribbean, Arabic and Indian Sikh populations using samples already collected; (ii) a vitamin D randomised controlled trial (RCT) on markers of immune health and function in ethnic groups. The project provides excellent value for money since we have already some of secured UK Biobank dataset required in (1) and we have stored samples available on all the subjects identified in (2) and we will be able to include undergraduate and Master's level students on the project as part of their Dissertations