- Systemic review and meta-analysis have found that individuals with prediabetes could lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 15% by supplementing with vitamin D.
- However, the reduction of risk with vitamin D was not as great as the reduction achieved by making intensive lifestyle modifications, another study showed.
- Other researchers caution that individuals should weigh the benefits and risks of taking vitamin D supplements with their doctors.
Individuals with prediabetes have blood sugar levels higher than what is considered healthy but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes.
It is a common condition — about 1 in 3 American adults have prediabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The good news is individuals with prediabetes can still prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.
A new systemic review and meta-analysis have found a higher vitamin D intake by individuals with prediabetes was associated with a 15% reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
A paper about the review was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
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However, the researchers behind the review and analysis point out in their paper that no study has established whether vitamin D supplements decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in patients with prediabetes.
Other studies have looked at vitamin D supplements in people with prediabetes, the researchers write, but “the observed differences were not statistically significant, and the reported relative risk reductions (10% to 13%) were smaller than each trial was powered to detect (25% to 36%).”
Dr. Anastassios G. Pittas, chief of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism at Tufts Medical Center and a co-author of the paper about the review, led the D2D
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