Diabetes mellitus is a common disease in Western world, with an estimated prevalence of 4 to 5%.
An estimated 19 million people are affected by diabetes in the EU 25, equal to four per cent of the total population. This figure is projected to increase to 26 million by 2030.
In the US, there are over 20 million people with diabetes, equal to seven per cent of the population.
There is a suggestion has been made that vitamin D insufficiency is the fundamental feature of the metabolic syndrome, leading to is various clinical manifestations. There was a study in Netherlands shows that the lower the vitamin D level, the greater the intolerance to glucose.
In animal studies by the University of California at Riverside showed that vitamin D is necessary for the pancreas to release insulin. Vitamin D deficiency produces insulin resistance in tissues.
Vitamin D actually directly acts on the muscle and fat cells to improve insulin action by reducing insulin resistance.
Vitamin D directly improves insulin production and its action by improving the level of calcium inside the cells. Vitamin D deficiency has been shown to impair insulin synthesis and secretion in humans and in animal model of diabetes.
This vitamin needed to maintain adequate blood levels of insulin. Actually levels of vitamin D are associated with control of many things that cause complications in diabetes: higher levels of HDL-C, lower levels of LDL-C, and better blood pressure control.
Vitamin D would appear to have a potential role in the prevention of diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.
Vitamin D and diabetes
