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Vitamin D supplements may help improve health in kidney transplant recipients, according to a new study.

New research reveals that adequate vitamin D levels are important for maintaining the health of kidney recipients.

The latest study involved 264 kidney transplant recipients. Lead researcher Dr. Yoshitsugu Obi of Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan and his team measured patients' baseline blood levels of vitamin D. Afterwards, they analyzed the associations between vitamin D levels and kidney function decline, rejection episodes, and death.

The findings revealed that vitamin D levels were directly correlated with annual kidney function decline. Researchers also found that vitamin D sufficiency as the reference, vitamin D inadequacy and deficiency showed significant dose-dependent associations with higher risks of organ rejection and death.

"Low vitamin D predicts adverse allograft outcomes, and vitamin D supplementation early after kidney transplantation may improve patient outcome," researchers wrote in the study.

The latest findings were presented at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week 2013 November 5-10 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia.