Dr John Campbell - Vitamin D And Diabetes

10th February 2023

Vitamin D and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes in People With Prediabetes, (7th Feb 2023).

Vitamin D has many functions in the body,

including a role in insulin secretion and glucose metabolism.

https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M22-3018

Observational studies,

association between low level of vitamin D in the blood,

and high risk for developing diabetes.

So, does giving vitamin D to people who were at high risk for diabetes reduce the risk?

Authors searched 3 databases,

through 9 December 2022

Compare the use of vitamin D versus placebo for diabetes prevention,

in adults with prediabetes.

Meta analysis and reanalysis of pooled data

Trials were at low risk for bias

Results

Over 3 years of follow-up

Vitamin D group

New-onset diabetes occurred in 22.7%

Placebo group

New-onset diabetes occurred in 25%

Translates to being 15% reduction

Number needed to treat to prevent one case of diabetes

30 adults with prediabetes to prevent 1 person from developing diabetes.

Risk reduction by blood levels

At least 125 nmol/L (≥50 ng/mL) group

50 to 74 nmol/L (20 to 29 ng/mL) group

Cholecalciferol reduced risk for diabetes by 76%

(hazard ratio, 0.24)

3-year absolute risk reduction of 18.1%

Vitamin D increased the likelihood of regression to normal glucose regulation by 30%

Doses used

20,000 units of cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) weekly

4000 units of cholecalciferol daily

0.75 micrograms of eldecalcitol, (synthetic analogue of vitamin D)

Adverse events

Rare, study could not draw any definite conclusions about safety

kidney stones

hypercalcemia

hypercalciuria

Implications

In adults with prediabetes,
vitamin D was effective in lowering the risk for developing diabetes.