Vitamin D, a New but Old Supplement to Combat Diabetes and Other High Blood Sugar Diseases?
Vitamin D Research and Higher Intake Levels
The more I read and learn about vitamin D the more it seems that those like me who have diabetes, and those who have the related condition called prediabetes, may be missing out on a possible inexpensive supplement that could help us in our efforts to control the higher than normal blood sugar levels that characterize our disease and make us diabetics.
Whenever vitamin D research findings are referred to, and that’s frequently these days, it is so often accompanied by mention of its potential benefits in lowering or treating the risks in cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, among others. It is important to note that the research involves significantly increased intake levels of vitamin D than are currently recommended as being adequate. With exposure of bare skin to sunlight it is possible to obtain those higher levels but to do so in that way is not advisable because such exposure increases skin damage and risks of skin cancer.
Important in the case of diabetes
There is evidence suggesting that vitamin D may increase sensitivity to insulin. Insulin is the hormone that is essential to assist the entry of blood sugars into the cells of the body. Also, evidence indicates that the vitamin helps the body to secrete more insulin, a major plus for anyone with type-2 diabetes or prediabetes. If that is so, then it combats the dual conditions that causes higher than normal blood sugar levels, those being either insulin resistance or lack of insulin production by the body, and sometimes a combination of both of those causes.
Maybe because of the very fact of having the disease it is too easy to get excited when vitamin D is again mentioned as perhaps playing a role in the development of diabetes and can lower the risks of complications, something not widely recognized previously. But who can blame us when we are so conscious of our blood sugar levels that most of us test for every morning and sometimes during the day, when we see the blood sugars begin to rise to high levels. Preoccupation with blood sugars can become excessive..
But it should not be overlooked that there are 50 million or more Americans who have prediabetes according the Center for Disease Control. Prediabetes is a condition that will lead to full diabetes for many, just consider how they could benefit if their prediabetes could be prevented from worsening with the aid of vitamin D.
Diabetes associations not yet advocating changes
I realize that it may be premature to think of vitamin D in this way, the merits of increased vitamin D intake are still a matter of debate. The American and the Canadian Diabetes Associations are taking a more cautious view and not advocating any change in vitamin D intake above the current recommended levels.
In a Research Summary, the American Diabetes Association, states that more studies are needed in order to know whether taking more calcium and vitamin D is effective in preventing diabetes and its complications. Elsewhere, in a lengthy position statement, without specifically mentioning vitamin D, they say in a section headed Recommendations: “There is no clear evidence of benefit from vitamin or mineral supplementation in people with diabetes (compared with the general population) who do not have underlying deficiencies.”
But some researchers and scientists are critical of the slow action in the review process to assess the evidence pointing to increased intakes being beneficial. In the United States, the advisory board for vitamin D is expected to conclude studies in the summer of this year that can determine such possibilities. However, many scientists remain skeptical that any recommendations to increase intake levels will fall short of the amounts they should be.
Additional Information:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/
http://forecast.diabetes.org/magazine/your-ada/vitamin-d-and-diabetes
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health/deficiency/am-i-vitamin-d-deficient.shtml
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