Vitamin D improved beta-cell function between 15% and 30%
They gave 92 pre-diabetic adults either vitamin D3 supplements, calcium supplements, both, or placebo.
After four months, vitamin D had significantly increased patients’ beta-cell function
Vitamin D May Improve Pancreas Function
By Eric Schultz
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jul 08 – Vitamin D supplements reduced risk factors for type 2 diabetes by improving the function of insulin-producing cells in pre-diabetic volunteers, a new study has found.
“The results…suggest that vitamin D supplementation may help to improve the main defect in type 2 diabetes,” said co-author Dr. Anastassios Pittas of Tufts University in Boston, in an email to Reuters Health.
He and his colleagues gave 92 pre-diabetic adults either vitamin D3 supplements, calcium supplements, both, or placebo.
After four months, vitamin D had significantly increased patients’ beta-cell function, according to results published online June 29th in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The vitamin D group also had slightly more favorable hemoglobin A1C levels.
In comments to Reuters Health, he estimated that vitamin D improved beta-cell function between 15% and 30% in this study.
Previous research has explored the connection between vitamin D and diabetes, with mixed results. Several studies have suggested that low vitamin D may raise the risk for diabetes, but most have been unable to show that vitamin D supplementation is preventive.
One recent study from Iran did show that vitamin D could help control blood sugar levels.
“These findings are interesting but preliminary,” cautioned Dr. Susan Kirkman of the American Diabetes Association.
“Vitamin D may have a role in delaying the progression to clinical diabetes in adults at high risk of type 2 diabetes,” wrote the authors of the new study, but they agree that role has not been adequately demonstrated.
