A link between Vitamin D deficiency and Parkinson’s disease?
Elderly people often have particularly low levels of Vitamin D. And new evidence suggests that those low levels could be linked to Parkinson's disease.
Elderly people often have particularly low levels of Vitamin D. And new evidence suggests that those low levels could be linked to Parkinson's disease.
Researchers at the Emory University School of Medicine measured blood levels of the vitamin in 300 patients - a third each with either Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease or neither.
As expected, insufficient levels of Vitamin D were common in each. But more of the Parkinson's patients (55 percent) had low levels than the Alzheimer's (41 percent) or the healthy controls (36 percent), they write in the current Archives of Neurology.
Moreover, all the participants lived in the South, most were white and most were tested in summer and fall - all factors known to help the skin produce Vitamin D from sunlight.
The findings, the researchers conclude, highlight the importance of routinely getting what is called a 25(OH)D test.
Surveys have found many Americans are deficient in Vitamin D, and research has recently linked inadequate levels to increased risks for various types of cancer and autoimmune and cardiovascular disorders, on top of the long-known problems for bones.
The study did not look at supplementation. Government guidelines are 400 IU a day for men and women ages 51 to 70, and 600 IU for older people.
