Low levels of Vitamin D risks for metabolic syndrome in adults

Underlying other research on the benefits of Vitamin D are the results of a new study that shows adults with low Vitamin D levels are at risk for metabolic syndrome, hypertension and high cholesterol.

“Because the metabolic syndrome increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, an adequate vitamin D level in the body might be important in the prevention of these diseases,” said study co-author Marelise Eekhoff, MD, PhD, of VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam.

Metabolic syndrome is a condition that affects one in four adults. The results of the present researhc were presented at The Endocrine Society’s 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego.

The researchers found a 48 percent prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in a study of the older Dutch population of nearly 1,300 white men and women ages 65 and older.  Nearly 37 percent of the total sample had the metabolic syndrome that includes high blood pressure, abdominal obesity, abnormal cholesterol profile and high blood sugar.

As a follow up, the researchers plan to study how many of the subjects with low vitamin D levels developed diabetes.

“It is important to investigate the exact role of vitamin D in diabetes to find new and maybe easy ways to prevent it and cardiovascular disease,” Eekhoff said.