News & Research
Vitamin D and Type 1 Diabetes: More Research Needed
What is the problem and what is known about it so far?
Type 1 diabetes is caused by a combination of heredity and environment. Although diabetes seems to run in families, its development is not explained by genes alone. This can be seen in the case of identical twins, who have identical genes. Even when one twin gets diabetes, the other twin does not always get the disease. This has caused researchers to believe that a person has to both have a certain gene makeup and be exposed to something in the environment that triggers the body to develop diabetes. Many possible triggers for diabetes have been suggested. Vitamin D is a possible trigger. Sunshine encourages the body to make vitamin D, which plays many roles in human health. Some small studies have found a link between type 1 diabetes and low levels of vitamin D. More study is needed to explore this possible link.
Why did the researchers do this particular study?
The researchers wanted to find out more about whether diabetes may be linked to low levels of vitamin D in people who live in a sunny climate.
Who was studied?
The study included 415 people who live in Florida. Some had newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes, some had type 1 diabetes for a longer time, some were close relatives of people with diabetes, and some were healthy people without diabetes.
How was the study done?
The researchers measured vitamin D levels in all of the participants.
What did the researchers find?
Many people in each group had vitamin D levels lower than recommended, even though they live in a sunny location. A link between low vitamin D levels and diabetes was not found.
What were the limitations of the study?
This study, while larger than previous studies, still may have been too small to find differences in vitamin D levels among the groups. It also did not take into account other factors, such as participants’ skin types, the amount of foods they ate that contained vitamin D, their use of sunscreen and other sun protection, and the amount of time they spent outdoors.
What are the implications of the study
Many people have low levels of vitamin D. Although results of studies have been mixed, there does not appear to be a link between vitamin D and type 1 diabetes. More research in larger studies is needed.
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