The antimicrobial activity of vitamin D 3 and omega-3 combination against pathogenic microorganisms

Abstract

Abstract Food supplemnts such as vitamin D3 and omega-3 have a significant impact on controlling pathogens. This study aims to evaluate the antimicrobial activities of combined vitamin D3 and omega-3 against selected pathogens. Minimum inhibitory activities of different serial dilutions of vitamin D3 (1.8 µM-216.6 µM) or omega-3 (0.8 mM-110 mM) or combined (vitamin D3: 0.8 µM -108.2 µM and omega-3: 0.3 mM -55 mM) have been investigated on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans. All the tested concentrations of vitamin D3 and omega-3 as a separate treatement were significantly different from the positive control in terms of microbial log-reduction. The highest concentration of vitamin D3 demonstrated a complete eradication of the tested microorganisms. Conversely, omega-3 had a lower effect on them. Combining 27 µM vitamin D3 and 13.5mM omega-3 resulted in ~ 0.4 to 0.6 log reduction of S. aureus, E.coli, P. aeuregnosa and C. albicans. On the other hand, C. albicans had 1.1 log reduction at a combination of 108.4 µM vitamin D3 and 55 mM of omega-3. Proposed mechanisms of the lowered antimicrobial activity when using the combination are discussed. These findings showed decreased antimicrobial effect of the combination and suggest a similar in vivo study to evaluate wheather taking the combination together or not.