4. Vitamin D could help slow the progress of diabetes
According to a study, supplementing vitamin D could help slow type 2 diabetes progression in individuals who are newly diagnosed or who are prediabetic. The study results indicate that high-dose vitamin D supplementation can improve glucose metabolism to help prevent diabetes development and progression.1✅ JOURNAL REFERENCE DOI: 10.1530/EJE-19-0156
Even though low levels of vitamin D have previously been linked to a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, some research has reported no metabolic function improvement. These studies however often had a low number of participants or included metabolically healthy individuals with normal vitamin D levels at the start of the study, or who had long-standing type 2 diabetes.
For this study, the researchers examined the effect of supplementing vitamin D on glucose metabolism in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes individuals or identified as at high risk of developing the disease. Glucose metabolism and insulin function markers were measured before and after 6 months of supplementing high-dose vitamin D of about 5-10 times the recommended dose.
Even though only 46% of the individuals were established to have low vitamin D levels at the start of the study, vitamin D supplementation significantly improved the action of insulin in the muscle tissue of the individuals after 6 months.
