Type 2 diabetes can be a 'devastating diagnosis' says expert
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Diabetes is a serious condition where your blood glucose level is too high. In the UK, around 90 percent of all adults with diabetes have type 2, according to the NHS. This is where the body does not produce enough insulin, or the body’s cells do not react to insulin. A vitamin deficiency may also contribute to the condition, according to a number of studies.
Vitamin D, often known as the “sunshine vitamin”, is gained when the skin is exposed to sunlight and is also found in a variety of foods.
Several studies have linked vitamin D deficiency to the onset of diabetes.
Diabetes.co.uk notes that vitamin D is believed to help improve the body’s sensitivity to insulin – the hormone responsible for regulating blood sugar levels – “and thus reduce the risk of insulin resistance, which is often a precursor to type 2 diabetes”.
The health body suggests that the correct level of vitamin D varies from person to person.
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“The only way to be sure that your vitamin D levels are where they should be is to request a 25-hydroxyvitamin D, or 25(OH)D, blood test from your GP. Ideally your blood level of 25 OH D should be 60ng/ml,” it adds.
One review published in the National Library of Medicine summarises the role of Vitamin D in maintaining the normal release of insulin.
It explains that Vitamin D acts to reduce inflammation, which is a major process in inducing insulin resistance.
When Vitamin D is deficient, many of the processes in the body begin to decline and “this sets the stage for the onset of diseases such as diabetes”.
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A vitamin D deficiency can also lead to bone deformities such as rickets in children, and several other conditions in adults.
If you are spending a lot of time indoors, the NHS suggests you should take 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day to keep your bones and muscles healthy.
Dietary vitamin D is available in foods such as oily fish, cod liver oil, red meat, fortified cereals, fortified spreads and egg yolks.
In April 2020, the NHS issued a statement, based on recommendations from Public Health England (PHE), that we should all consider taking 10 mcg/day vitamin D as a supplement, to keep our bones and muscles healthy. This advice has been issued now, largely because of the restrictions imposed by quarantine and lockdown.
Nonetheless, the NHS says that in summer months, the majority of the population will get enough vitamin D through exposure to sunlight and a healthy, balanced diet.
Between October and early March the health body says we do not make enough vitamin D from sunlight, so you need to get vitamin D from your diet.
Around 20 percent of adults may have low vitamin D status, and there are several main risk factors for vitamin D deficiency.
The NHS says risk factors include a lack of sunlight exposure, darker skin, being housebound, malabsorption, and being pregnant or breastfeeding.
Falling short of the required amount could weaken immune defences, but if low levels are left untreated, discomfort may also arise.
Over-supplementation of vitamin D, however, can be just as harmful and should be avoided.
The NHS says taking too many vitamin D supplements over a long period of time can cause too much calcium to build up in the body which can weaken the bones and damage the kidneys and the heart.
You cannot overdose on vitamin D through exposure to sunlight.
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