Vitamin D may help prevent type 1 diabetes, according to a recent Harvard School of Public Health study.
According to researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), adequate vitamin D levels in young adulthood may reduce the risk of adult-onset type 1 diabetes by as much as 50%. The findings may suggest that adults with this serious autoimmune disease could benefit from taking vitamin D if further research confirms this hypothesis.
A research associate in the department of nutrition at HSPH, said, "It is surprising that a serious disease like type 1 diabetes could possibly be prevented by an easy and safe intervention".
The immune system of the body attacks and permanently disables insulin-making cells in the pancreas in type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile-onset or insulin-dependent diabetes. The American Diabetes Association estimates that type 1 diabetes affects 5% of the estimated 25-8 million Americans with diabetes. Although type 1 diabetes typically begins in childhood, approximately 60% of cases occur after age 20.
Although previous studies have suggested that type 1 diabetes may be caused by a deficiency in vitamin D, their primary focus was on the connection between the risk of developing the disease in childhood and a deficiency in the vitamin during pregnancy or childhood.
High levels of vitamin D were linked to a lower risk of multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that is genetically and epidemiologically related to type 1 diabetes. This suggests that adult vitamin D deficiency may be a significant risk factor for autoimmune diseases in general
The scientists led a planned case-control investigation of the U S military work force ready for deployment, utilizing blood tests from the Division of Guard Serum Storehouse, which stores in excess of 40 million samples gathered from 8 million servicemen and women since the mid-1980s. The team compared blood samples taken from 613 people in a control group and those taken from 310 people who were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes between 1997 and 2009.
They discovered that white, non-Hispanic, healthy young adults with serum vitamin D levels of more than 75 nanomoles per liter had about half the risk of developing type 1 diabetes as those with lower vitamin D levels (less than 75 N M O L/L). The authors suggested that the lack of a significant correlation between Hispanics and blacks may be attributable to the small number of people who belong to these groups.
The gamble of type 1 diabetes has all the earmarks of being expanded even at vitamin D levels that are ordinarily viewed as typical, recommending that a significant extent of the populace could profit from expanded vitamin D admission, said Alberto, teacher of the study of disease transmission and nourishment at HSPH, the review's senior creator.
Vitamin D deficiency affects people of all ages and ethnicities, with an estimated 1 billion people worldwide lacking the vitamin. Vitamin D production is hindered by clothing, skin pigmentation, sunscreen, and lower levels of ultraviolet radiation during the winter, despite the fact that the sun is an excellent source of vitamin D. The "good" sources of vitamin D, like salmon and fortified milk, typically have fewer than 400 international units (IU) per serving; According to the Mayo Clinic, 600-800 IU is the recommended daily allowance in the United States.
The authors stated, "While it is premature to recommend universal vitamin D supplementation for type 1 diabetes prevention, the possibility that many cases could be prevented by supplementation with 1,000-4,000 IU/day, which is largely considered safe, is enticing".
A grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke helped pay for the study
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