News
Food fortification significantly supports micronutrient supply in Ireland
8 September 2015
04 July 2013
A high-dose supplementation with vitamin D may be an easy adjunct therapy for depression and major cardiovascular risk factors among women with type 2 diabetes, reports a new US study.
The clinical pilot study included 46 women (average age of 55 years) who had suffered from type 2 diabetes for an average of 8 years and had insufficient blood concentrations of vitamin D (18 ng/ml), who took a weekly vitamin D dose of 50,000 international units for six months (1). The study results showed that the participants’ vitamin D concentrations reached sufficient levels (an average of 38 ng/ml) and their moods improved significantly: while a depression symptom survey indicated moderate depression at the beginning of the study, the survey results indicated no depression after six months. In addition, blood pressure im-proved, with the upper pressure decreasing from 140.4 mm Hg to 132.5 mm Hg.
The researchers commented that larger, randomized controlled trials are needed to determine the impact of vitamin D in diabetes patients. About 10 percent of the people in the United States have diabetes, and the incidence is projected to increase to 25 percent by 2050. Women with type 2 diabetes have worse disease progression than men, which may be due to depression, a malady that affects more than 25 percent of women with diabetes. Depression impairs a patient’s ability to manage her disease by eating right, exerci-sing, taking medications, etc. Many Americans do not get enough vitamin D (the recommended dietary allowance for women 51 to 70 is 600 IU per day) and people with diabetes are at especially high risk for vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency because of limited intake of foods high in vitamin D, obesity, lack of sun exposure and genetic variations.
8 September 2015
31 October 2016
Obesity rates have nearly doubled since the early 80s and much has been speculated about the possible reasons for this rapid increase.
14 July 2014
According to a new international review low blood vitamin D levels seem to have a causal role in the development of high blood pressure.