Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is necessary for proper absorption and utilization of calcium. Vitamin D also serves important functions in your immune system, helps regulate blood pressure and plays a role in insulin secretion. Deficiency of vitamin D may result in impaired blood sugar management and triglyceride levels.
Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Risk
Vitamin D deficiency may increase your risk for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, according to a review of previously published research by scientists at the Laboratory of Experimental Medicine and Endocrinology, Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium. Receptors for vitamin D have been found on beta cells, which are the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, and on immune cells. Insulin production becomes impaired when your vitamin D levels are low. Statistics show a link between vitamin D deficiency and development of Type 2 diabetes. If a vitamin D deficiency starts early in life, later development of Type 1 diabetes is possible. Additionally, some people have a genetic variation in the receptor for vitamin D that may also be associated with increased risk for Type 1 diabetes. The study was published in the July 2005 issue of the journal "Diabetologia."
Children
A study conducted at the Departamento de Nutrición, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, in Spain, found that when vitamin D levels are low in schoolchildren, their triglyceride levels tend to be high. Of 149 participants ages 8 to 13, those with the lowest vitamin D levels showed 34 percent higher triglyceride levels than those with the highest vitamin D levels. The study was published in the November 2010 issue of the "European Journal of Nutrition."
Body Mass Vs. Vitamin D
A study by researchers at the Department of Endocrinology, Catholic University, in Rome, Italy, and published in the October 2010 issue of the journal "Obesity," found no association between vitamin D levels and insulin sensitivity. In the study of 39 volunteers, those with low vitamin D levels had higher body mass index -- a measure of the ratio between your height and weight that indicates percentage of body fat. Low vitamin D levels were also associated with higher triglycerides, higher total cholesterol and lower insulin sensitivity. Body mass index had the strongest association with low vitamin D levels, while insulin sensitivity was not a significant factor, statistically.
Questionable Relationship
Low vitamin D levels may not put older women at risk for diabetes, according to a February 22, 2011, article on MedlinePlus, a National Institutes of Health medical website. Most studies that have drawn an association between vitamin D deficiency and increased risk for diabetes have been observational studies based on survey or questionnaire-style information gathering and may not have accounted for other lifestyle variables with potential influence on diabetes risk. In the large study known as the Women's Health Initiative, 6 percent of the participants developed diabetes over a seven-year period; however, there was no association between the women's vitamin D levels at the start of the study and the development of diabetes.
References
- "Diabetologia"; Vitamin D and Diabetes; C. Mathieu, et al.; July 2005
- "European Journal of Nutrition"; Vitamin D Deficiency Is an Independent Predictor of Elevated Triglycerides in Spanish Schoolchildren; E. Rodríguez-Rodríguez, et al.; November 2010
- "Obesity"; 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration Correlates with Insulin Sensitivity and BMI in Obesity; G. Muscogiuri, et al.; October 2010
- MedlinePlus: Study Sees No Link Between Vitamin D, Diabetes; Amy Norton; February 2011
- Linus Pauling Institute: Vitamin D
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