Haryana Researchers Combat Widespread Vitamin-D Deficiency with Mushroom-Enriched Laddoos
A groundbreaking study reveals nearly 90% of adolescent girls in Haryana, India, suffer from Vitamin-D deficiency, but researchers at the Central University of Haryana (CUH) have developed a promising, locally-sourced solution.
A recent research initiative conducted by CUH scientists uncovered a startling public health concern: an estimated 88% of girl students sampled from government schools across three districts – Mahendragarh, Bhiwani, and Kurukshetra – exhibited either Vitamin-D deficiency or insufficient levels of the essential nutrient. The project, funded by the Haryana State Council for Science, Innovation, and Technology, aimed to assess the scope of the problem and identify effective interventions.
The extensive cross-sectional clinical study,carried out in 2023 with a sample size of 1,009 adolescent girls,revealed that 49.95% were definitively deficient in Vitamin-D, while an additional 37.85% had insufficient levels. This finding prompted immediate concern among the research team. “Vitamin-D deficiency is a major health problem affecting all sections of society worldwide, and our country is no exception,” explained Dr. Anita Kumari, project investigator from CUH’s Department of Nutrition Biology. “Still,it sounds strange that a sizeable population of Haryana is deficient in Vitamin-D despite the fact that the state leads in production of crops as well as milk.”
Rather than relying on conventional Vitamin-D supplements, the team pursued an innovative approach: harnessing locally available resources to address the deficiency.Researchers, including Dr.Anita, Prof. neelam Sangwan, Prof. surender Singh,and Dr. Deepika, embarked on an impact assessment study conducted between March and May 2025 at a government school in Mahendragarh district.
The core of their intervention involved providing selected Vitamin-D-deficient girls with two daily Vitamin-D-enriched laddoos crafted from biofortified button mushrooms over a three-month period. The results were encouraging. A significant majority of the girls demonstrated a significant increase in their Vitamin-D levels within two to three months of incorporating the laddoos into their diets.
Throughout the study, researchers meticulously monitored Vitamin-D levels in both a control group and the experimental group, assessing changes every 30 days. The control group showed no discernible change in Vitamin-D levels throughout the 90-day observation period. However, after two months of consuming the mushroom-enriched laddoos, 48% of the Vitamin-D deficient subjects in the experimental group exhibited increased levels. By the end of the 90-day supplementation period, 47% of girls initially classified as deficient had moved to insufficient levels, and 5% achieved sufficient Vitamin-D levels.
“Hence, it can be concluded that regular inclusion of Vitamin-D-enriched ladoos developed from biofortified button mushrooms have significant impact to act as functional foods owing to their ability to curb the cases of hypovitaminosis D among selected subjects,” Dr. Anita stated. The technology behind these Vitamin-D enriched products is now poised for technology transfer, paving the way for commercialization and broader societal benefit.
The research team expressed gratitude to CUH Vice Chancellor Prof.Tankeswar Kumar for his support, and also to the Department of Science and Technology,
