In a review study from Tufts Medical Center, scientists found that higher vitamin D intake was linked to a 15% decreased risk of developing type 2 diabetes in adults with prediabetes.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin available in or added to some foods, as a supplement, or produced by the body when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike the skin.
Vitamin D has many functions in the body, including a role in insulin secretion and glucose metabolism.
The role of vitamin D in people who are at risk for type 2 diabetes remains unclear.
In the current review study, researchers aimed to evaluate whether vitamin D supplementation decreases the risk of diabetes in people with prediabetes.
Eligible published studies were specifically designed and conducted to test the effects of vitamin D versus placebo on newly diagnosed diabetes in adults with prediabetes.
The team focused on new-onset diabetes. They also checked blood sugar control and adverse side effects.
The researchers found vitamin D reduced the risk of diabetes by 15%, with a 3-year absolute risk reduction of 3.3%. The effect of vitamin D did not differ in subgroups.
People assigned to the vitamin D group who maintained a 25-hydroxyvitamin D level of at least 125 nmol/L (≥50 ng/mL) compared with 50 to 74 nmol/L (20 to 29 ng/mL) during follow-up, had a reduced risk for diabetes by 76%, with a 3-year absolute risk reduction of 18.1%.
Vitamin D increased the likelihood of regression to normal blood sugar by 30%.
There was no evidence of a difference in the risk for adverse events.
The team concludes that in adults with prediabetes, vitamin D is effective in decreasing the risk for diabetes.
However, studies of people with prediabetes do not apply to the general population. Future work needs to test the effect of vitamin D on diabetes risk in healthy people.
The study was conducted by Anastassios G. Pittas et al and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies that flaxseed oil is more beneficial than fish oil to people with diabetes, and honey could help control blood sugar.
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