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Lee Swanson Research Update
Low Vitamin D Levels Linked to Metabolic Syndrome in Seniors
July 2010
Insufficient and deficient levels of vitamin D may increase the risk of metabolic syndrome by about 40%.
According to findings presented at The Endocrine Society’s 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego, of the 1,300 white Dutch men and women ages 65 and older surveyed, almost 50% were vitamin D deficient and about 37% of the total sample had metabolic syndrome.
"Because the metabolic syndrome increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, an adequate vitamin D level in the body might be important in the prevention of these diseases," said study co-author Marelise Eekhoff, MD, PhD, of VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam.
The study supports previous findings from other studies. A report in Diabetes Care last year showed that about 40% of elderly Chinese people may have metabolic syndrome, linked to insufficient or deficient levels of vitamin D.
The link between vitamin D and metabolic syndrome is plausible biologically. Vitamin D deficiency has previously been linked to impaired insulin secretion in animals and humans, and has also been linked to insulin resistance in healthy, glucose-tolerant subjects.
Metabolic syndrome is a condition characterized by central obesity, hypertension and disturbed glucose and insulin metabolism. The syndrome has been linked to increased risks of both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Eekhoff and her co-workers analyzed blood samples from almost 1,300 people participating in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. People with blood levels of vitamin D (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D) lower than 50 nanomoles per liter were likelier to have metabolic syndrome than those whose vitamin D levels exceeded 50, said the researchers.
"It is important to investigate the exact role of vitamin D in diabetes to find new and maybe easy ways to prevent it and cardiovascular disease," said Eekhoff.
In addition to a potential link to an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, vitamin D deficiency may precipitate or exacerbate osteopenia, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, fractures, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases.
Presented at the ENDO 2010 Annual Meeting & Expo.
