Newly published research from the Journal of Neurology confirms that Vitamin D deficiency poses a risk for the development of Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia, and that Vitamin D supplementation may lower that risk. https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000000755
This study represents the first large, population-based study to evaluate Vitamin D blood levels and the associated risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1300
It has been felt that the risk of dementia increases when Vitamin D is deficient, but the determination regarding what the optimal level is has been controversial. The Institute of Medicine has been recommending a level of 50 nmol/L and the Endocrine Society recommending 75 nmol/L.29,30
Also at issue is what level of supplementation should be administered. A Women’s Health Initiative controlled trial discovered that a relatively low dose of vitamin D- 400 IU did not protect against dementia after a follow-up period of nearly 8 years in women who had relatively high serum vitamin D levels at baseline (mean of 49 nmol).31 This helps to clarify the threshold above which older adults are unlikely to benefit from supplementation. When levels are below 50- and thus considered to be Vitamin D deficient- that is when supplementation seems to more consistently affect the risk of dementia.
There are a mechanisms proposed for why low vitamin D levels may impart a risk of dementia.32 There are Vitamin D receptors on cells throughout the brain, including areas involved known to be in memory .6 Also, the enzyme that synthesizes the active form of vitamin D, is produced in several brain regions. Vitamin D, regulates nerve growth factor, neurotrophin 3, and glial-derived neurotrophic factor,11 and is involved in the normal functioning of nervous system cells.33 . In mice studies Vitamin D supplementation slows the age-related decline seen in learning and memory.35 Completed meta analyses have established that Vit D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of incident stroke,36 10
One study of over 300 elderly adults found that Vitamin D deficiency was associated with an increase in cerebral infarcts.37 Overall, studies have consistently shown that low vitamin D levels increase the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease via both neurodegenerative and vascular mechanisms. In order to accurately assess study participants the diagnosis of dementia was made by evaluations overseen neurologists and psychiatrists using neuroimaging, and other internationally recognized criteria (NINCDS-ADRDA).23
The overall conclusion of this latest study as stated by the study’s author is that there is ” a strong association between baseline vitamin D concentrations and the risk of incident all-cause dementia and Alzheimer’s disease over a mean of 5.6 years of follow-up in ambulatory older adults free from vascular conditions at baseline. Further studies are necessary to replicate our findings and extend them to more diverse populations.” They further state that, ” our findings support the hypothesis that vitamin D may be neuroprotective and that “sufficiency” in the context of dementia risk may be in the region of 50 nmol/L. This information is likely to prove useful in improving the design and reducing the cost of randomized controlled trials investigating whether vitamin D supplements can be used to delay or prevent the onset of dementia and AD in older adults”.
Another just published study resulted in a published article titled – ” This One Vitamin Can Help Prevent Dementia- (Especially for Women)” and ” Study Finds September 7, 2024 Research indicates that one essential vitamin could make all the difference in cognitive decline and brain longevity”. This study published in the scientific journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, showed that older adults who increased their vitamin D intake were 40% less likely to develop dementia. This dementia study evaluated the effects of vitamin D exposure on dementia incidence in over 12,000 older adults of an average age of 71. All of the study participants were confirmed to be either dementia-free at their initial evaluation, or classified as having mild cognitive impairment.
The design of this study was to split up the subjects into a vitamin-D-exposed group (individuals given one of three types of vitamin D supplements) and a non-exposed group (those who were not given vitamin D supplementation).
Vitamin D exposure was shown to reduce the incidence of dementia by 40 %. Also, the five-year survival rate for those given vitamin D was15% higher. The women were judged to be at higher risk of dementia than the male participants, but their response to the increased vitamin D intake was even better than the males. Very importantly, subjects who are carriers of the APOE ε4 gene- a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease—showed a dementia incidence that was 33% lower than subjects not administered the Vitamin D supplement.
The overall takeaway from this study was that vitamin D intake was found to have significance for dementia prevention, particularly before the onset of cognitive decline. Researchers did not define the amount of vitamin D that the participants were given. https://drsobo.com/low-vitamin-d-in-the-elderly-associated-with-more-rapid-development-of-dementia-alzheimers/
THE IMPORTANCE OF VITAMIN D FOR OVERALL HEALTH
Extensive research has been done supporting notion that there are many health benefits that could accrue by supplementing to achieve a healthy level of Vitamin D. https://drsobo.com/vitamin-d-deficiency-linked-to-premature-death/
Heart Disease
Vitamin D levels have been found to be lower in patients with chronic heart failure. A study from San Francisco-University of California of over 9,000 female subjects, 65 years of age and older, found that the women who used vitamin D supplements lowered risk of heart disease death by 31% compared to those who did not supplement. https://drsobo.com/vitamin-d-reduces-arterial-stiffness-may-prevent-heart-disease/
Osteoporosis
Vitamin D deficiency has repeatedly been shown to impart a greater risk of osteoporosis. The body does not adequately absorb calcium —needed for strong, healthy bones that resist fracture — without vitamin D.
Vitamin D Improves Mood
Oregon State University published a study of 185 female college students, between 18 and 25 years of age. The subjects completed a depression symptom survey every week for five weeks. It found that the subject’s vitamin D levels dropped during the fall, were even lower in winter, and rose again in the spring. The women with lower levels of vitamin D were more likely to have significant depressive symptoms.
Another study of patients diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) improved when given vitamin D supplementation during the winter. https://drsobo.com/vit-depression
Headaches
The University of Eastern Finland published a study of 2,600 men between 42 and 60 years which showed that Vitamin D deficiency was associated with a greater incidence chronic headaches.
https://drsobo.com/vitamin-d-deficiency-linked-to-chronic-headaches/
Cancer
Research has repeatedly confirmed the association between healthy vitamin D levels and a lower risk for a number of cancers. Patients who regularly consumed fish ( a good source of Vitamin D) were 40 per cent less likely to develop colonic polyps. One cancer study showed that giving cancer patients vitamin D might help their radiation treatments work better. Supporting this, a study from the Dartmouth Medical School using mice found that combining vitamin D with radiation enhanced the destruction of cancer cells. Mice given Vitamin D had their tumor size shrink to 50 percent smaller than in those that received radiation alone. https://drsobo.com/high-vitamin-levels-increase-survival-patients-metastatic-colorectal-cancer/
Dementia
The University of California at Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center, published a study of over 400 men and women from Northern California with a mean age of seventy-six. They followed the study participants for five years. At the beginning of the study they classified the subjects as being cognitively normal, having mild cognitive impairment or having dementia. The serum vitamin D levels measured at the beginning of the study, and after five years showed that the vitamin D deficient subjects suffered cognitive decline that was up three times faster than those with healthy vitamin D levels.
Joshua Miller, MD the lead author said “Independent of race or ethnicity, baseline cognitive abilities and a host of other risk factors, vitamin D insufficiency was associated with significantly faster declines in both episodic memory and executive function performance… This work, and that of others, suggests that there is enough evidence to recommend that people in their 60s and older discuss taking a daily vitamin D supplement with their physicians”.
Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center Charles DeCarli explains, “We expected to see declines in individuals with low vitamin D status. What was unexpected was how profoundly and rapidly low vitamin D impacts cognition. I don’t know if replacement therapy would affect these cognitive trajectories. That needs to be researched and we are planning on doing that.This is a vitamin deficiency that could easily be treated and that has other health consequences. We need to start talking about it, particularly for people of color, for whom vitamin D deficiency appears to present an even greater risk,” he said.
https://drsobo.com/link-vitamin-d-dementia-risk-confirmed-t/
Chronic Inflammation
The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center says that weight loss for those who are overweight, along with vitamin D supplementation, has a greater effect on reducing chronic inflammation than weight loss alone. Being overweight is associated with chronic inflammation, a known contributor to the development and progression of many diseases as well as cancer.
The study published in the Journal Cancer Prevention Research had over 200 overweight and vitamin D deficient postmenopausal women participants. Researcher Catherine Duggan, Ph.D says, “We know from our previous studies that by losing weight, people can reduce their overall levels of inflammation, and there is some evidence suggesting that taking vitamin D supplements can have a similar effect if one has insufficient levels of the nutrient. This is the first study to test whether adding vitamin D augments the considerable effect of weight loss on inflammatory biomarkers.” They found that it does. At the completion of the study, all of the participants who had lost weight had reduced levels of inflammation, regardless of whether they took. However, those who took Vitamin D supplements had the most significant decline in markers of inflammation. “That suggests vitamin D can augment the effect of weight loss on inflammation.” Dr Duggan concluded. https://drsobo.com/weight-loss-combined-with-vitamin-d-supplements-reduces-chronic-inflammation/
Multiple Sclerosis
From a study in the Journal Neurology from Johns Hopkins in which they gave study subjects with Multiple Sclerosis a high dose (10,400 IU) or a low dose (800 IU)of vitamin D3 supplements daily for six months: Vitamin D was measured in the blood, and they measured the response of the person’s immune system’s T cells which may play a role in Multiple Sclerosis. The subjects who took the high dose had a reduction in the percentage of inflammatory T cells related to MS severity.
Lead study author of the study Peter Calabresi, MD. said, “We hope that these changes in inflammatory T cell responses translate to a reduced severity of disease. Other clinical trials are underway to determine if that is the case. More research is needed to confirm these findings with larger groups of people and to help us understand the mechanisms for these effects, but the results are promising. Vitamin D has the potential to be an inexpensive, safe and convenient treatment for people with MS”. https://drsobo.com/vitamin-d-benefits-people-with-multiple-sclerosis/
Asthma
As per a study published in the medical journal Allergy, subjects with a Vitamin D deficiency were 25 percent more likely to suffer an asthmatic attack. The medical records of more than 300,00 people were reviewed for this research. They also found that asthmatics who were Vitamin D-deficient were more likely to have “uncontrolled asthma” requiring the use of multiple inhaler medications, or steroids to control their condition. Dr. Confino-Cohen of the reseacrh team said, “Our results add more evidence to the link between Vitamin D and asthma, suggesting beneficial effects of Vitamin D on asthma exacerbations.” https://drsobo.com/vitamin-deficiency-worsens-asthma-study/
OVERALL MORTALITY
A study from the University of South Australia, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with premature death, and that with a severe vitamin D deficiency, the risk of mortality is even greater.
The validity of this study relates to its size. The blood measurements of over 30,000 people were used to develop their statistical analysis usin a 14 year follow up to obtain death rates among the subjects. The lead study researcher, Professor E.Hyppönen, says that strategies need to be implemented to benefit the population as a whole. ” The key is in prevention. It is not good enough to think about vitamin D deficiency when already facing life-challenging situations, when early action could make all the difference. It is very important to continue public health efforts to ensure the vulnerable and elderly maintain sufficient vitamin D levels throughout the year.”
Vitamin D Deficiency Increases Mortality Risk in the UK Biobank. 2022; DOI: 10.7326/M21-3324
Here is a summary of research showing the various disease preventing benefits of Vitamin D: https://drsobo.com/anti-aging-medicine-vitamin-d-alert/
