Vitamin D deficiency may raise risk of type 1 diabetes

By David Liu

A new study published in the Nov 9, 2009 issue of Pediatric Diabetes suggests that supplementation of vitamin D may help prevent type 1 diabetes in children.

Type 1 diabetes is often found in children and people with this disease need to use medications to manage blood sugar.  The disease can lead to a wide range of serious medical complications.

The study found that more children with type 1 diabetes than healthy children were at low levels of serum vitamin D.

Borkar VV and colleagues from Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in India tested plasma levels of vitamin D (25-OHD) in 50 children aged 6 to 12 within a week of diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and 50 children with the condition.

The researchers found the average levels of vitamin D in the children with type 1 diabetes were 20.02 ng/mL compared to 26.16 ng/mL in healthy children. The difference was significant.

They also found of the children with type 1 diabetes, 58 percent were vitamin D deficient (defined as having less than 20 ng/mL) compared to 32 percent in children without the medical condition.

Borkar and colleagues concluded that vitamin D levels are low at the onset of type 1 diabetes and trials are justified to evaluate the effect of vitamin D supplementation on the type 1 diabetes rates.

Previous studies have already found that incidence of vitamin D deficiency in children is high. The current study found 43 (86%) diabetic and 38 (76%) healthy children were either vitamin D deficient or insufficient.

Vitamin D has been associated with elevated risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, and periodontal disease among others, according to Dr. John Cannell, a vitamin D expert and president of Vitamin D Council.