Diabetes is a disorder affecting the way you metabolizes and uses glucose. In most people, glucose passes from the bloodstream into cells, helping fuel the body's basic function. With diabetes, insulin --- a hormone that facilitates this process --- isn't effective or sufficient to remove glucose from the blood, causing an increase in blood sugar. A number of factors contribute to this condition. Some researchers believe one of these factors is nutrient deficiencies, particularly when it comes to vitamin D.
Diabetes
During digestion, food is broken down into glucose. Glucose enters the bloodstream where it's then moved into cells with the help of insulin. If your body becomes resistant to insulin or fails to produce enough of this hormone, glucose is unable to move into cells and sugar begins to build up in your bloodstream.
Vitamin D
A study published in the July 2005 "Diabetologia," the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, found that vitamin D deficiencies could predispose you to type 1 or type 2 diabetes. It appears a lack of vitamin D impairs the synthesis and secretion of insulin. Since type 2 diabetes often develops when the pancreas is unable to make enough insulin to move glucose into cells or the cells themselves become resistant to the hormone, this finding suggests vitamin D --- or a lack thereof --- may play a role in its development.
Supplementation
The University of Maryland Medical Center, however, cautions that no evidence exists that taking vitamin D prevents type 2 diabetes. Supplementation is also not known to treat this condition. In fact, a study published in the January 2006 "Diabetes Care," the journal of the American Diabetes Association, shows that diets supplemented with vitamin D did nothing to change the deficiency in diabetics. Even after taking 400 IU of vitamin D in a multivitamin each day, the percentages of those deficient remained the same. Further research is needed to determine if there's a therapeutic dosage that could help.
Another study, this one conducted by the Institute for Community Health Studies at the New England Research Institutes, suggests that 2,000 IU of vitamin D may help prevent type 1 diabetes in children. But before you start supplement your infant's diet with vitamin D, talk to your doctor. Further research is necessary on the overall effect of such high dosages on infancy. Currently, infants need on 200 IU a day.
Lifestyle
If researchers find that supplementing the diet with vitamin D is beneficial, other factors still contribute to type 2 diabetes. Taking a vitamin each day doesn't change these factors. Being overweight and leading a sedentary lifestyle are two of the more common risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Lose excess weight and increase your level of physical activity to prevent this condition, recommends MayoClinic.com.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Type 2 Diabetes; May 2011
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Vitamin D; June 2010
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Vitamin D: Importance in the Prevention of Cancers, Type 1 Diabetes, Heart Disease and Osteoporosis; Michael Holick; March 2004
- "Diabetologia"; Vitamin D and Diabetes; C. Mathieu, et al; July 2005
- "Diabetes Care'; Vitamin D Deficiency is More Common in Type 2 Than in Type 1 Diabetes; David Di Cesar, et al.; January 2006
- "Journal of Nutrition"; Vitamin D in Type 1 Diabetes Prevention; S.S. Harris; February 2005
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