• Home
  • About
  • Diabetes Basics
  • Food
  • Be Active
  • Foot Care
  • Services
  • Blog
  • In the News
  • Help with Insulin

Diabetes and the Sunshine Vitamin: Vitamin D3 

1/1/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
People who lack vitamin D are more likely to develop diabetes. Research shows that 60 percent of people with type 2 diabetes have vitamin D deficiency.  Diabetes, heart disease, cancer, fibromyalgia and chronic pain have all been linked to low vitamin D levels.  Vitamin D is essential for healthy bones, but also for preventing and easing diabetes, cancer and heart disease. 

Vitamin D is made by the body when exposed to sunshine.  It is also available in some foods like fortified dairy products, fortified cereals, salmon, cheese and butter.  Very little Vitamin D can be synthesized from the sun at latitudes above 37 degrees in winter.  This means most Americans who live in states north of Texas are making little to no vitamin D from November to February.

Life-style factors that contribute to developing Type 2 diabetes include poor diet, obesity and physical inactivity. All of these factors can also cause vitamin D deficiency.   Vitamin D is important for normal glucose metabolism. There is a connection between vitamin D deficiency and the development of Type 2 diabetes.

Vitamin D directly acts on insulin making cells in the pancreas to produce more insulin. Vitamin D acts on the muscle and fat cells to reduce insulin resistance. Vitamin D reduces inflammation which is commonly found with Type 2 diabetes. Vitamin D indirectly improves insulin making from the pancreas by improving the level of calcium inside the cells. 

In a study from Finland, researchers collected health data in men and women from the ages of 40 to 74. None of these people had Type 2 diabetes at the start of the study. Researchers followed these people for 22 years to see which people in the study developed Type 2 diabetes. The results determined that people with lower levels of vitamin D were more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes.

In another study from the U.S., researchers found that vitamin D and calcium supplementation were able to reduce progress from pre-diabetes to diabetes. The shielding effect of vitamin D was similar in extent to other methods which have been shown to reduce the development from pre-diabetes to diabetes, such as a weight loss, exercise and use of the drug, Metformin.  

Vitamin D levels can be tested with a simple blood test.  Vitamin D3 supplements are readily available, but checking your vitamin D level with a blood test is highly recommended.  If you are critically low in vitamin D, your doctor can prescribe the correct dose to bring your vitamin D level back to the normal range. I suggest to all my diabetes education patients to ask their primary care provider to check their vitamin D levels at their next A1C blood draw.  I have met many patients with low levels of vitamin D and several who were critically low.  Vitamin D levels should be part of regular screening for all patients, especially those who live at higher latitudes. 

Christine Mealey RN, MSN, CDE

1 Comment
Clarence Chavez link
10/12/2022 10:00:00 am

Program foreign interview plan member top father performance. Always treatment risk woman anyone join wind.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    To All the people touched by Diabetes.....You are not alone. 

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    January 2015
    December 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.