LONDON (Reuters Health) – Children who receive the recommended daily dose of vitamin D during infancy are 78% less likely to develop type 1 diabetes than children who receive less than the recommended amount, according to a report published in the November 3rd issue of The Lancet.
Dr. Elina Hyppצnen, from the Institute of Child Health in London, and colleagues studied 10,366 children who were born in northern Finland in 1966. The participants' vitamin D use during the first year of life was determined and they were surveyed in 1997 to determine the prevalence of type 1 diabetes.
After adjustment for neonatal, anthropometric, and social characteristics, children who received regular vitamin D supplementation were 88% less likely to develop type 1 diabetes than children who received no supplementation. In fact, even irregular supplementation was tied to a reduced risk of 84%.
Among children who regularly received vitamin D, taking the recommended daily dose of 2000 IU was associated with a 78% reduced risk compared with taking less vitamin D. Children thought to have rickets during infancy were three times more likely to develop diabetes than other children.
Given that vitamin D acts as an immunosuppressant and type 1 diabetes is considered an autoimmune disease, the current findings are not surprising, the investigators state. Ensuring that infants receive adequate vitamin D supplementation might help reverse the increasing incidence of type 1 diabetes, they add.
In a related editorial, Dr. Jill M. Norris, from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, comments that "the potential role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes is intriguing and deserves follow-up."
Dr. Norris adds that "prospective studies in which biomarkers of vitamin D are measured at various times before the diagnosis of diabetes are necessary to resolve issues about timing and dose." The potential toxic effects of vitamin D supplementation also require further investigation, she notes.
Lancet 2001;358:1500-1503.
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