Lack of vitamin D in blood increases risk of diabetes, study shows

VITAMIN D deficiency is putting Australians at risk of developing diabetes, a landmark study has shown.

The largest study of its kind found people with higher levels of vitamin D in their blood were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those with lower levels. It could lead to at-risk patients using vitamin D supplements along with diet and exercise to stop their development of the potentially deadly condition.

The study's co-author Ken Sikaris, a pathologist at Melbourne Pathology, said the research could have a big impact in slowing increasing rates of diabetes in Australia. "It's hard to underestimate how important this might be," he said.

Between a third and a fifth of the Australian population could be vitamin D deficient and rates were highest in the southern states, which received less sunlight, Dr Sikaris said.

The research, which tested the blood of 5200 people, found every increase of 25 nanomoles of vitamin D per litre of blood (nmol/L) equated to a 24 per cent reduced risk of diabetes, another co-author, Zhong Lu, a pathologist at Monash Medical Centre and Melbourne Pathology, said. People with a level of vitamin D in their blood that is less than 50 nmol/L are deficient, although some experts believe the threshold for deficiency should be set higher.

The study, published in the journal Diabetes Care and presented by Dr Lu at a conference of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, retested blood samples taken as part of the major AusDiab study of risk factors for diabetes.

It found vitamin D deficiency was an independent risk factor, even after adjusting for others, such as weight and physical activity.

The AusDiab study, which was made between 1999 and 2005 and is the most recent to widely test for diabetes, revealed 7.4 per cent of Australians over 25 had the condition.Peter Ebeling, the chair of the NorthWest academic centre at the University of Melbourne and Western Health, said that in light of the findings he was conducting a trial to test whether vitamin D supplements could help prevent diabetes.

He was attempting to increase the vitamin D concentrations in the blood of a group of 100 people with pre-diabetes to 75 nmol/L.

Professor Ebeling said such research had progressed slowly in the past because it had not attracted funding, particularly from drug companies.


Amy Corderoy July 26, 2011
www.brisbanetimes.com.au

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/health/lack-of-vitamin-d-in-blood-increases-risk-of-diabetes-study-shows-20110725-1hx02.html