Vitamin D deficiency can lead to a slew of diseases including cancer, diabetes

By Staff Reporter - 21 Nov '14 13:52PM

Vitamin D deficiency can be detrimental to your bone health and it can also result in various other diseases leading to an early death, according to the latest research.

A latest study conducted by Borge Nordestgaard of Herlev Hospital and his colleagues at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, suggests that having low levels may raise the risk of early death.

"We can see that genes associated with low Vitamin D levels involve an increased mortality rate of 30% and, more specifically, a 40% higher risk of cancer-related deaths," said Shoaib Afzal, medical doctor at Herlev Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark.

"An important factor in our study is that we have established a causal relationship," Afzal added.

The lack of Vitamin D can lead to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis and even depression.

"It's a long list because the vitamin D steroid hormone affects different genes in different tissues," says John Cannell, founder of the Vitamin D Council and author of "Autism Causes, Prevention and Treatment: Vitamin D Deficiency and the Explosive Rise of Autism Spectrum Disorder."

"Vitamin D is a steroid hormone precursor that is made in the skin," Cannell explains. "The vitamin D steroid hormone activates up to 1,000 of the 21,000 active genes in the human genome. If the gene is in the brain, vitamin D affects the brain. If the gene is in the heart, vitamin D affects the heart. Thirty-seven different tissues in the human body utilize vitamin D and need it for adequate functioning."

This study is the first time that researchers have established a link between low Vitamin D levels and increased mortality. The study was based on the examination of genes. The study involved 96,000 people from large-scale population studies in Denmark.

Vitamin D levels were measured using blood samples from the studies, and specific genetic defects were examined. All participants were followed for mortality from 1976 until 2014.