|
|
Joined: 12/6/2011
Posts: 3326
|
From Alzheimer's Daily News:
(Source: Foodconsumer.org) - A new study suggests that taking vitamin D supplements may help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers at the Cédric Annweiler of Université Nantes-Angers-Le Mans, France, showed that older women who had highest quintile of vitamin D dietary intake were 77 percent less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease during a 7-year period, compared to those who had the lowest quintile of vitamin D.
Go to full story: http://www.foodconsumer.org
|
|
Joined: 12/20/2011
Posts: 217
|
Thanks very much for posting this, Myriam.
So far, I haven't found an easy way to access the full paper online, but here's a bit more info that I came across about the study:
Higher Vitamin D Dietary Intake Is
Associated With Lower Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease: A 7-Year Follow-up
Abstract
Background. Hypovitaminosis D is associated with
cognitive decline among older adults. The relationship between vitamin D intakes
and cognitive decline is not well understood. Our objective was to determine
whether the dietary intake of vitamin D was an independent predictor of the
onset of dementia within 7 years among women aged 75 years and older.
Methods. Four hundred and ninety-eight
community-dwelling women (mean, 79.8 ± 3.8 years) free of vitamin D supplements
from the EPIDemiology of OSteoporosis Toulouse cohort study were divided into
three groups according to the onset of dementia within 7 years (ie, no dementia,
Alzheimer’s disease [AD], or other dementias). Baseline vitamin D dietary
intakes were estimated from self-administered food frequency questionnaire. Age,
body mass index, initial cognitive performance, education level, physical
activity, sun exposure, disability, number of chronic diseases, hypertension,
depression, use of psychoactive drugs, and baseline season were considered as
potential confounders.
Results. Women who developed AD (n = 70) had
lower baseline vitamin D intakes (mean, 50.3 ± 19.3 μg/wk) than nondemented
(n = 361; mean intake = 59.0 ± 29.9 μg/wk, p = .027) or those
who developed other dementias (n = 67; mean intake = 63.6 ± 38.1 μg/wk,
p = .010). There was no difference between other dementias and no
dementia (p = .247). Baseline vitamin D dietary intakes were associated
with the onset of AD (adjusted odds ratio = 0.99 [95% confidence interval =
0.98–0.99], p = .041) but not with other dementias (p = .071).
Being in the highest quintile of vitamin D dietary intakes was associated with a
lower risk of AD compared with the lower 4 quintiles combined (adjusted odds
ratio = 0.23 [95% confidence interval = 0.08–0.67], p = .007).
Conclusions. Higher vitamin D dietary intake was
associated with a lower risk of developing AD among older women.
http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/04/13/gerona.gls107.short
|
|
Joined: 12/6/2011
Posts: 3326
|
Thanks, Onward!
|
|
Joined: 12/20/2011
Posts: 217
|
http://blog.vitamindcouncil.org/2012/10/04/meta-analysis-and-review-low-d-increases-risk-of-alzheimers/
Meta-analysis and review: Low D increases risk of
Alzheimer’s
Posted onOctober 4, 2012 by Kate SaleyA recent meta-analysis and review published in Neurology reports that
lower vitamin D levels are associated with decreased cognitive function and an
increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
Dr Cynthia Balion, PhD, and colleagues searched five different databases for
research that measure vitamin D status as well as cognitive function.
The authors included 37 studies in their review. Twenty-one cross sectional
studies, 10 case-controls, 1 before-after with comparison groups, 2 prospective cohort studies, and 3 randomized controlled trials. The sample sizes of the studies varied greatly from 27 to 17,099 participants.
The authors collected sufficient data to conduct two different meta-analyses.
The first compared mean 25(OH)D levels between AD and control groups. Data from 888 participants demonstrated lower serum vitamin D in patients with AD than in controls. Out of the 6 studies included in this specific analysis, all but 1 indicated a lower vitamin D concentration in patients with AD.
The second meta-analysis compared mean Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, used to analyze cognitive performance, between participants with vitamin D status <20 ng/mL to those with concentrations ≥20 ng/mL. The authors used data from 2,749 participants from 8 cross-sectional and case-control studies for this analysis. These studies demonstrated that participants with higher vitamin D levels showed higher average MMSE scores.
Of the 2 cohort studies included, the one that included only men reported no
significant association between baseline cognitive scores and vitamin D status.
However, participants with deficient vitamin D status had an increased risk for
cognitive decline over 6 years compared with participants who had sufficient
vitamin D levels.
Dr Balion emphasizes the review results differ from two previously published
reviews because of the broader inclusion criteria, resulting in a larger number
of included studies (37 compared to 5).
The authors stressed the importance of the need for consistent methods of
25(OH)D measurement because of unreliable results for certain assays.
They conclude,
“This systematic review provides sufficient evidence to warrant further
investigation to determine if a cause and effect relationship exists between
vitamin D and cognitive impairment. To date, no treatment study has examined this question where both vitamin D and cognition were measured over a sufficient period in a large at-risk population.”
Sources:
Balion C,
Griffith LE, Stifler L, et al. Vitamin D, cognition, and dementia: A systematic
review and meta-analysis. Neurology. September 25, 2012.
|
|
Joined: 12/21/2011
Posts: 62
|
Short digression:
Interesting is fact that vitamin D regulates the concentration of calcium and phosphate in the bloodstream. In case of calcium deficiency (for example hypocalcemia caused by vitamin D deficiency) parathyroid hormone takes calcium from bones (huge problem of children and old people). Because of it blood test to check calcium level in many cases doesn't have much sense. It won't give information about whole calcium metabolism.
Doctors often check calcium but in fact they should check calcium, phosphate, vitamin D3 and parathyroid hormone (PTH).
|
|
Joined: 12/12/2011
Posts: 4854
|
Some additional reasons why Vitamin D may lower the risk for Alzheimer's disease.
Accumulating data have provided evidence that vitamin D is involved in brain function. Vitamin D can inhibit the synthesis of inducible nitric oxide synthase and increase glutathione levels, suggesting a role for the hormone in brain detoxification.
http://www.healthysavannah.com/VitD.html
I have been spending part of my day elsewhere on the internet, and just these posts here reminded me of how good the researchers on this site are.
|
|
Joined: 12/20/2011
Posts: 217
|
Vitamin D linked to women's cognitive health
04 December 2012
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitamin-d-linked-to-womens-cognitive-health/
Two recent studies appearing in the Journals of Gerontology:
Series A suggests that vitamin D plays a vital role in the cognitive
health of aging women.
Cedric Annweiler, MD, PhD, and colleagues found that
increased vitamin D intake is associated with a lower risk of developing
Alzheimer’s disease.
Annweiler’s team divided 498 older women from a
community into three groups – no dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or other
dementias – and studied the onset of dementia in a 7 year time period.
Women who eventually developed Alzheimer’s disease had significantly lower baseline vitamin D status than those who didn’t develop Alzheimer’s or those who developed other dementias.
Similarly, researchers led by Yelena Slinin, MD, MS, at
the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis found that vitamin D deficiency among older
women is associated with higher risk of cognitive impairment and decline.
Assessing 6,257 community-dwelling elderly women,
Slinin and colleagues found that women with vitamin D levels <10 ng/ml had an
increased risk of cognitive impairment and decline at baseline compared with
women with vitamin D levels ≥30 ng/ml.
Source:
News. Vitamin D tied to women’s cognitive
performance. The Gerontological Society of America. Nov 30, 2012.
|
|
|
|