Diabetics with low vitamin D had 1.4X more infections – Aug 2024

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Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations, vitamin D receptor polymorphisms, and risk of infections among individuals with type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study

Am J Clin Nutr. 2024 Aug;120(2):398-406. doi: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.06.007 PDF behind a paywall
Ji-Juan Zhang 1, Han-Cheng Yu 2, Ting-Ting Geng 1, Jin-Jin Zhang 3, Xiao-Tao Zhou 4, Yu-Xiang Wang 1, Bing-Fei Zhang 5, Kun Yang 5, Oscar H Franco 6, Yun-Fei Liao 7, Gang Liu 8, An Pan 9

Background: Evidence on the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and infections among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), a group susceptible to vitamin D deficiency and infections, is limited.

Objectives: We aimed to examine this association in individuals with T2D, and to evaluate whether genetic variants in vitamin D receptor (VDR) would modify this association.

Methods: This study included 19,851 participants with T2D from United Kingdom Biobank. Infections were identified by linkage to hospital inpatient and death registers. Negative binomial regression models were used to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), with adjustment of potential confounders.

Results: In patients with T2D, the incidence rate of infections was 29.3/1000 person-y.
Compared with those with 25(OH)D of 50.0-74.9 nmol/L, the multivariable-adjusted IRRs and 95% CIs of total infections, pneumonia, gastrointestinal infections, and sepsis were 1.44 (1.31, 1.59), 1.49 (1.27, 1.75), 1.47 (1.22, 1.78), and 1.41 (1.14, 1.73), respectively, in patients with 25(OH)D <25.0 nmol/L. Nonlinear inverse associations between 25(OH)D concentrations and the risks of total infections (P-overall < 0.001; P-nonlinear = 0.002) and gastrointestinal infections (P-overall < 0.001; P-nonlinear = 0.040) were observed, with a threshold effect at ∼50.0 nmol/L. The vitamin D-infection association was not modified by genetic variants in VDR (all P-interaction > 0.050).

Conclusions: In patients with T2D, lower serum 25(OH)D concentration (<50 nmol/L) was associated with higher risks of infections, regardless of genetic variants in VDR. Notably, nonlinear inverse associations between 25(OH)D concentrations and the risks of infections were found, with a threshold effect at ∼50.0 nmol/L. These findings highlighted the importance of maintaining adequate vitamin D in reducing the risk of infections in patients with T2D.

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VitaminDWiki – Overview Diabetes and vitamin D contains

• Diabetes is 5X more frequent far from the equator
• Children getting 2,000 IU of vitamin D are 8X less likely to get Type 1 diabetes
• Obese people get less sun / Vitamin D - and also vitamin D gets lost in fat
• Sedentary people get less sun / Vitamin D
• Worldwide Diabetes increase has been concurrent with vitamin D decrease and air conditioning
• Elderly get 4X less vitamin D from the same amount of sun
      Elderly also spend less time outdoors and have more clothes on
• All items in category Diabetes and Vitamin D 551 items: both Type 1 and Type 2

Vitamin D appears to both prevent and treat diabetes

• Appears that >2,000 IU will Prevent
• Appears that >4,000 IU will Treat , but not cure
• 90% less T2 Diabetes in the group having lots of Vitamin D
• Appears that Magnesium helps both Prevention and Treatment
• Many diabetics would be better treated if Gut-Friendly Vitamin D were used

Number of articles in both categories of Diabetes and:

• Dark Skin 24;   Intervention 56;   Meta-analysis 40;   Obesity 36;  Pregnancy 44;   T1 (child) 39;  Omega-3 11;  Vitamin D Receptor 24;  Genetics 13;  Magnesium 29    Click here to see details

Some Diabetes studies

• Take Vitamin D to prevent prediabetes from progressing into diabetes – American Diabetic Association – 2024
• Diabetes and Vitamin D meta-analyses - many studies 39+ as of Nov 2024
• 99.7% of people who got Diabetes had been regularly consuming food emulsifiers - May 2024
• Type 2 Diabetes treated by Vitamin D (often 50,000 IU weekly) – meta-analysis July 2023
• Diabetic inflammation synergistically decreased by Vitamin D and exercise – RCT June 2022
• Incidence of Type-2 Diabetes increased 3X in 30 years (by the way, Vitamin D helps) – July 2022
• Vitamin d treats Type II Diabetes in many ways (14 article review) - Sept 2021
• T2 Diabetes 30 percent more likely if poor Vitamin D Receptor – meta-analysis of 47 studies – July 2021

50 ng of Vitamin D fights Diabetes

• Saudi study defines normal Vitamin D level to be 50 to 70 ng (diabetes, etc.) - June 2020
• Diabetes 5X less likely if more than 50 ng of Vitamin D – April 2018

T1 Diabetes

• T1 Diabetes 3X lower risk if high vitamin D (over 40 ng) – Meta-analysis Nov 2020
• Type 1 Diabetes is prevented and treated by Vitamin D – review of 16 studies – Sept 2019
• Type 1 Diabetes prevention with Vitamin D and Omega-3 – Symposium April 2019

Pre-Diabetes

• 4X reduction in prediabetes progressing to T2D if more than 50 ng of vitamin D – RCT March 2023
• Prediabetes reduced by weekly 60,000 IU of Vitamin D – RCT Jan 2021
• Prediabetes 1.5 X more likely to go away if take Vitamin D – meta-analysis July 2020

Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Magnesium - many studies
Diabetic Epidemic

• Step back to 1994. Suppose an epidemic struck the United States, causing blindness, kidney failure, and leg amputations in steadily increasing numbers.
  Suppose that in less than a decade's time, the epidemic had victimized one out of every eight people
  That epidemic is real, and its name is diabetes, now the nation's sixth leading cause of death.
  Chart from the web (2018?)