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Nutrition News 01.22.12

Vitamin D deficiency and type 2 diabetes

By David Liu, PHD

Saturday Jan 21, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Vitamin D deficiency may increase risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus, according to a new study in the Jan 2012 issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology. Biomarkers & Prevention.

The study led by researchers at University of Massachusetts shows that subjects who had greater than 75 nmol per liter of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration were 76 percent less likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus than those who had lower than 25 nmol per liter.

Early studies have already found the association suggesting that vitamin D deficiency may be at least partially responsible for type 2 diabetes.

For the study, You-Cheol Hwang MD PhD, of Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong and Kyung Hee University School of Medicine in Seoul, Korea examined data on 12,263 subjects aged older than 19 years who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2008–2009 to see if there is an inverse association between vitamin D concentration and risk of diabetes mellitus type  2.

Serum vitamin D levels were affected by multiple factors including gender, age, season, resident area, physical activity, smoking status, alcohol, marital status, education and occupation among other things, the researchers reported.

Those who had diabetes were found to have significantly lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration than those who had normal glucose tolerance and those who had impaired fasting glucose after adjustment for other risk factors.

Compared to those who had the highest serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (more than 75 noml per liter), those who had 50 to 74 noml/L, 25 to 49 nmol/L and lower than 25 nmol/L were 21, 34, and 76 percent, respectively, more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The study results also suggest that those who had higher serum vitamin D concentrations had lower concentrations of serum insulin and higher insulin sensitivity, compared with those who had lower levels of vitamin D.

The researchers concluded "The findings suggest that vitamin D deficiency, possibly involving altered insulin sensitivity, is associated with an increased risk for diabetes mellitus in the Korean population."
Vitamin D has been associated with increased risk for more than 100 health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a common disease.  It is estimated that 26 million American live with this disease, according to the National Institutes of Health.