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NEW YORK, July 30 – A new Canadian study found that taking a vitamin D supplement may help slow the progression of type 2 diabetes in people who have recently been diagnosed with this disease or who have signs of prediabetes.
Led by researchers from Laval University in Quebec City, the new small-scale study involved 96 newly diagnosed participants with type 2 diabetes or at high risk of developing the disease, a condition known as prediabetes , which can be identified by several risk factors, including obesity or a family history of the disease.
Half of the participants were randomized to receive a high dose of vitamin D3 (5000iu, about five to ten times the recommended dose) once a day for six months, while the other half were badigned to a daily placebo.
The researchers measured markers of insulin function and glucose metabolism before and after six months.
The results, published in the European Journal of Endocrinology, showed that vitamin D levels were significantly higher in the group that had taken a supplement compared to those who had taken the placebo.
In addition, taking vitamin D supplements appeared to significantly improve the action of insulin in the participants' muscle tissues after six months.
Previous research has suggested that low levels of vitamin D are a risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes. However, studies to determine whether vitamin D supplementation can improve metabolic function have yielded inconsistent results. Researchers say this may be due to the small number of study participants, or to the fact that participants who initially had normal vitamin D levels were in good metabolic health or had been living with type 2 diabetes since then. long time.
Dr. Claudia Gagnon, researcher in the study, commented, "The reason we have seen an improvement in glucose metabolism following vitamin D supplementation in patients at high risk of diabetes or in newly diagnosed ones, while other studies have not shown any effect in people with long-standing type 2 diabetes is not clear. This could be due to the fact that improvements in metabolic function are harder to detect in people with long-term illness or that a longer treatment time is needed to see the benefits. "
She recommends continuing studies to determine how different people respond to vitamin D supplementation and whether the positive effect on metabolism found in this study can be sustained in the long run.
"Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes are a growing public health problem, and while our results are promising, more research is needed to confirm our results, to determine if there are people who could benefit more from this intervention. Evaluate the safety of high-dose vitamins. Long term supplementation. Until then, I would suggest following the current recommendations for vitamin D supplementation, "said Gagnon. – AFP-Relaxnews
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