Vitamin D Supplements Cut Risk of Dementia: Study

Vitamin D deficiency is linked to risk of dementia in old age, finds a study.

Experts at the University of Exeter Medical School found people who do not get enough exposure to sunlight or eat food rich in vitamin D like fish, mackerel, milk, cheese and eggs, have two fold chances of suffering from severe memory loss in later years. They looked at 1,658 participants who were aged above 65 for almost six years. The subjects' blood samples were collected to measure vitamin D. The trial also recorded other variables like educational status and smoking and drinking habits of the participants.

It was observed people whose blood vitamin D levels were below 53 percent, had very high probability of having dementia while those with chronic deficiency had 125 percent increased odds of memory decline.

"We expected to find an association between low Vitamin D levels and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, but the results were surprising - we actually found that the association was twice as strong as we anticipated," said David Llewellyn, study author and researcher at the University of Exeter, reports the Laboratory Equipment.

After the entire study period, around 171 participants had dementia and 102 were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

In addition, the authors noted low vitamin D content was associated with 70 percent elevated risk of Alzheimer's disease and participants who were classified with extreme deficiency were 120 percent likely to suffer from the condition.

"Clinical trials are now needed to establish whether eating foods such as oily fish or taking vitamin D supplements can delay or even prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. We need to be cautious at this early stage and our latest results do not demonstrate that low vitamin D levels cause dementia. That said, our findings are very encouraging, and even if a small number of people could benefit, this would have enormous public health implications given the devastating and costly nature of dementia," adds Llewellyn.

More information is available online in the journal of Neurology.