From the Daily Mail
- Study: Vitamin D levels are more closely linked with diabetes than obesity
- People with low levels of vitamin D more likely to have type 2 diabetes
- Also more likely to have pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome
- Vitamin D is ‘more closely linked with glucose metabolism than obesity’
We’ve long been told that the main risk factor for type 2 diabetes is obesity.
Now, however, scientists have discovered a lack of sunshine increases the risk of diabetes more than weight.
A new study has warned people who have low levels of vitamin D are more likely to be obese and more likely to have type 2 diabetes.
They are also more likely than people with normal vitamin D levels to have pre-diabetes – a condition which means a person’s blood sugar is elevated.
If left untreated, they are likely to develop type 2 diabetes within a decade.
A lack of the ‘sunshine’ vitamin D – rather than being obese – raises the risk of diabetes, researchers say. The vitamin plays a role in how the body metabolises sugar
Their risk of metabolic syndrome – a medical term for a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity – is also increased.
Metabolic syndrome puts a person at greater risk of heart disease, stroke and other conditions affecting blood vessels.
The new Spanish study found it was a deficiency in vitamin D – dubbed the ‘sunshine vitamin’ – rather than what a person weighs that increased their risk of diabetes.
