Vitamin D Benefits Blood Sugar Health in Those at Risk for Diabetes

by | May 15, 2012 | 2012, Diabetes, Pancreatic Health, Vitamin D - General

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. In a study of 2040 prediabetic patients those with the highest blood levels of vitamin D had a 39% lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

As a major cause of heart disease and stroke, diabetes affects an estimated 25.8 million Americans (8.3% of the population) (1) while the total number of diabetes cases in the world has doubled since 1980 (153 million to 347 million in 2008) (2). Diabetes currently costs our healthcare system $174 billion per year (1).

In addition, 35% of U.S. adults 20 years and older and 50% of U.S. adults 65 years and older have “pre-diabetes”, which means they have higher than normal blood sugar levels. People with pre-diabetes have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke (3). Now a new study (4) suggests that vitamin D may also help pre-diabetics improve their blood sugar health.

In the study, researchers analyzed data from the Diabetes Prevention Program (5) involving 2,040 pre-diabetic patients with an average age of 51 and fasting blood levels between 95-125 millligrams/deciliter. Patients were interviewed every 6 months for nearly 3 years, during which blood work was drawn to measure vitamin D and blood sugar. The researchers looked specifically at a possible relation between vitamin D blood levels and type 2 diabetes.

After 2.7 years of follow-up, the average vitamin D intake was 21.6 nanograms/deciliter). The researchers found that those with the highest 20% of vitamin D blood levels had a 39% reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those with the lowest 20% of vitamin D blood levels (30.1 vs. 12.8 ng/dL). They also found that every 5 ng/dL increase in vitamin D blood levels produced a 13% decrease in pre-diabetes risk. Their results agree with earlier research which showed that vitamin D blood levels greater than 50 ng/dL produced a 60% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes compared to vitamin D blood levels less than 12 ng/dL (6).

For the researchers, “Higher [vitamin D blood levels]…was associated with lower risk of incident diabetes in high-risk patients, after adjusting for lifestyle interventions (dietary changes, increased physical activity, and weight loss) known to decrease diabetes risk.”

Source: Pittas, Anastassios G., et al. “Plasma 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Progression to Diabetes in Patients at Risk for Diabetes.” Diabetes care 35.3 (2012): 565-573.

© 2012 by the American Diabetes Association. Creative Commons attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Click here to read the full text study.

Posted May 15, 2012.

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. 

References:

  1. “2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet” – see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
  2. “Adult Diabetes Rate Doubles” – see Yahoo- Old News website.
  3.  “Prediabetes among people aged 20 years or older, United States, 2010” -see teh Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
  4. Pittas AG.  Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D and progression to diabetes in patients at risk for diabetes: an ancillary analysis in the Diabetes Prevention Program.  Diabetes Care 2012 Mar;35(3):565-73.
  5. Knowler WW.  Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group.  Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. N Engl J Med. 2002 Feb 7;346(6):393-403.
  6. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.  Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D.  Washington, DC, The National Academies Press, 2011.