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Taking Vitamin D May Reduce Diabetes Risk
May 25, 2008 10:27 PM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
A study suggests children who take vitamin D are less likely to develop type 1 diabetes as adults. Diabetes affects millions and their number is growing.
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Children who take vitamin D supplements may be 30 percent less likely to develop type 1 diabetes as adults, reports Health Day.
Researchers also determined that children in sunny climates, whose bodies can absorb sufficient vitamin D from natural sunlight, may have a similarly reduced risk for the disease.
Type 1 diabetes affects millions of people in Europe and America. The number of new cases is expected to grow by 40 percent between 2000 and 2010.
Physician and health blogger John Briffa says the study, while not conclusive, is “another piece in the ever-growing body of evidence linking vitamin D and sunlight with benefits for health and disease-protection in both adults and children.”
The human body absorbs sunlight and converts it into vitamin D. The vitamin is also found in fish and milk.
Other recent studies have associated higher vitamin D blood levels in adults with lower levels of type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes interferes with how the body processes sugar, and has a number of adverse impacts on health if untreated. The condition can be managed with insulin, medication and diet.
Researchers also determined that children in sunny climates, whose bodies can absorb sufficient vitamin D from natural sunlight, may have a similarly reduced risk for the disease.
Type 1 diabetes affects millions of people in Europe and America. The number of new cases is expected to grow by 40 percent between 2000 and 2010.
Physician and health blogger John Briffa says the study, while not conclusive, is “another piece in the ever-growing body of evidence linking vitamin D and sunlight with benefits for health and disease-protection in both adults and children.”
The human body absorbs sunlight and converts it into vitamin D. The vitamin is also found in fish and milk.
Other recent studies have associated higher vitamin D blood levels in adults with lower levels of type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes interferes with how the body processes sugar, and has a number of adverse impacts on health if untreated. The condition can be managed with insulin, medication and diet.
Headline Link: Lack of vitamin D in childhood raises chance of diabetes
Children in northern climates with less sunlight are far more likely to develop type 1 diabetes than children who live in sunnier parts of the world, according to an analysis in Archives of Disease in Childhood. This observation led researchers to initiate the study examining whether children who received vitamin D supplements could reduce their diabetes risk. The findings could help prevent a growing health problem as diabetes rates are rising rapidly.
Source: Health Day
Reaction: Benefits of the ‘sunshine vitamin’
Physician John Briffa, who works at St. John and St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in London, answers questions and discusses a variety of health information in his blog and podcasts. Aiming to “cut through the hype and fear” to provide practical health information, he analyzes the vitamin D-diabetes study and reviews other potential health benefits of the so-called “sunshine vitamin.”
Source: Dr. Briffa Blog
Related: Vitamin D may also help adults fight disease
A Finnish study suggested that people with higher vitamin D levels in their blood had a lower risk of having type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes. Those with the highest levels had a 40 percent lower chance of developing the condition.
Source: Reuters
Reference: Living with diabetes and how vitamins help promote health
There are three main types of diabetes: type 1, which primarily appears in childhood; type 2, which is normally seen in adults, but has occurred in children; and gestational, which affects pregnant women. Learn more about treating, diagnosing and living with diabetes in the findingDulcinea Diabetes Web Guide.
Source: findingDulcinea
Vitamin D plays a major role in keeping bones healthy as well as vital body processes, according to the National Institute of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements. During the depression in the 1930s, the bone disease rickets was a national problem until a campaign to fortify milk with vitamin D was started. Now, rickets is rarely diagnosed in the United States.
Source: Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health
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