A new study has boosted evidence that diabetes is tied in with vitamin D deficiency. The results showed that people with blood levels of vitamin D lower than 18.5 ng/mL are more than twice as likely to be diabetic than those with higher levels. Furthermore, those with blood levels of vitamin D higher than 30 18.5 ng/mL had no diabetes at all.
The 11 year Spanish study included 961 people, and is in line with previous research that correlates low levels of blood serum vitamin D with both types of diabetes. The precise mechanism is not fully understood, however vitamin D has been shown to improve both insulin production and the body’s response to insulin. A 2011 study reported that daily supplementation of 2000IU of vitamin D3 may increase production of insulin by the pancreas’s beta cells by an impressive 25%.
The issue of vitamin D supplementation has been highlighted especially in Northern Europe, where the UVB rays required to make vitamin D in the skin are lacking throughout the colder months. Food sources are generally inadequate in making up the shortfall, and studies have unsurprisingly reported widespread low levels of blood serum vitamin D.
A cascade of exciting new research around vitamin D has been triggered by new methods of measuring our vitamin D levels, and has led to links between deficiency of the sunshine vitamin and an array of conditions including MS, Parkinson’s, cancer, mental health, dementia, autism, Crohn’s, colitis, asthma, allergies, obesity and gestational diabetes.
For more information on vitamin D, read our newsletter Vitamin D, more than a ray of sunshine
Source:
Gonzalez-Molero, I. et al, Vitamin D and incidence of diabetes: A prospective cohort study Vitamin D and diabetes incidence, Clinical Nutrition, ponline ahead of print, doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2011.12.001
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