Can a lack of Vitamin D lead to dementia?

In what is seen as the first major population-based study, a group of researchers have discovered a link between the consumption of Vitamin D and a major risk of developing conditions like dementia. The older generation who do not consume enough of the vital vitamin could potentially double their risk of developing the debilitating condition.

Dementia is a term that is collectively used to cover several problems that exist in the brain. These underlying conditions all affect the brain, with parts of the brain that control thoughts, language and memory all having the possibility of being affected by the disease. The most common form of this is Alzheimer’s disease, which is known worldwide.

The study, which was published in Neurology, has stated that having low concentrations of Vitamin D in your body are highly linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease in many. The worrying part of this is that there are high levels of Vitamin D deficiency in several older adults, the group which is mostly at risk to suffer from diseases like dementia.

A report that looked into the diets of the population of the US discovered that a third of those do not have enough amount of Vitamin D in their diets. It’s also estimated that 8% of the population are currently running a risk of developing a Vitamin D deficiency. The Vitamin is obtained simply from exposure to the sunlight, along with adding various foods to your diets like eggs, cheese, milk and fish.

A strong link between Vitamin D and dementia

To carry out the study, the researchers had to test nearly 2,000 dementia-free people who were aged over 65. The Vitamin D levels found in the blood were all tested, with the participants being monitored by the researchers for nearly 6 years.

After they had been followed for this period, 171 of those who took part in the study developed dementia, with another 102 participants developing Alzheimer’s disease. The study found that those who took part with lower levels of Vitamin D were amazingly 53% more likely to develop a disease such as dementia. Those who had a severe deficiency were more than 125% more likely to develop the disease.

The similarities that can be found between dementia and Alzheimer’s were striking, as participants with lower levels of Vitamin D also stood at a 70% risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Again, those who had a severe deficiency were represented with a risk of 120%.

The variables in the study did not affect the overall outcome – as when smoking and alcohol were added to the mix, no change was to be found in the results.

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