Low vitamin D levels may predict dementia risk

[riky]

Low vitamin D levels may predict dementia risk

By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Elderly people with less vitamin D in their blood may be more likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease than those with more, according to a new analysis of data from the mid-1990’s. Severe vitamin D deficiency, and the associated increased risk for dementia, was rare in the study, however. Only four percent of the older people included were “severely deficient” based on their blood samples. “It is too early to tell whether improving vitamin D levels helps to delay or prevent dementia - clinical trials are now urgently needed,” said senior author David J. Llewellyn of the University of Exeter Medical School in the U.K. Researchers used data from an existing study of heart disease risk among 1,658 elderly adults. When the study began in 1993, none of the participants had dementia, heart disease or stroke, and all gave blood samples for analysis, which were then stored in a lab at the University of Vermont.

Source: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login