Giving young children vitamin D supplements may reduce their risk of developing type 1 diabetes later in life, suggests new UK research.
The study, by St Mary's Hospital for Women and Children, Manchester, showed that children who were given vitamin D supplements were 29% less likely to develop diabetes than those who did not.
Type 1 diabetes is also known as insulin dependent diabetes. It is most common among children and young people under 30. It occurs because the body is unable to make insulin due to an autoimmune process. It must be treated with insulin injections.
The Manchester team reviewed five studies that looked at the effect of vitamin D supplementation. They found that children given vitamin D supplements were 29% less likely to develop diabetes type 1. Children who received higher and more regular doses had the lowest chance of developing the disease. However, the exact doses were unclear.
Previous research has found that people newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have low levels of vitamin D. Studies have also found that type 1 diabetes is more common in countries where there is a low exposure to sunlight, which is needed for the body to manufacture vitamin D.
"There is a marked geographic variation in incidence, with a child in Finland being about 400 times more likely than a child in Venezuela to acquire the disease,” said the authors.
Other research has linked low levels of vitamin D and sunlight to other autoimmune disorders, including multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Dr Victoria King, of the charity Diabetes UK, said more research was needed before a concrete association between vitamin D supplementation and reduced risk of diabetes can be confirmed.
The study was published in Archives of Disease in Childhood.
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