I do not want to overdo a good thing, but when it comes to one of my favorite vitamins, the news just keeps getting better. Now researchers have found that this vitamin reduces the risk of devastating type-1 diabetes by 29%. While this disease is most common in children, this news affects everyone over the age of 50.
Researchers recently studied vitamin D and its impact on childrens cases of type-1 diabetes. They found that infants given vitamin D-rich cod liver oil between the ages of seven and 12 months had a 45% lower risk, compared to infants given vitamin D between 0 and six months of age. That is major news. Sure, you may not be in the age group at risk for type-1 (juvenile) diabetes. But this strongly suggests that vitamin D is an immune modulator and may protect beta cells of your pancreas.
If you have any risk of diabetes, or are one of the 1 in 10 adult diabetics who are slim, this information could be of great utility to you. Please keep your levels of vitamin D in the upper third of the reference range for your lab. I currently recommend 5,000 units daily to most everyone I see, summer and winter.
Ref: [Hypovitaminosis D among 18-to-49-years-old women wearing concealing clothes, an ignored reality in general practice], Belaid S, Martin A, et al, Presse Med, 2007 November 29.; Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2008 March 13.