According to a recent large-scale study, taking vitamin D supplements may help prevent dementia. Researchers from the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary in Canada and the University of Exeter in the UK explored the link between vitamin D supplementation and dementia in more than 12,388 participants from the US National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center, who had an average age of 71 and were Dementia free when they signed up.
Of the group, 37 percent (4,637) took vitamin D supplements. In the study, published in Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring, the team found that taking vitamin D was associated with longer dementia-free survival, and they also found 40 percent fewer dementia diagnoses in the group that took the supplements. .
Of the entire sample, 2,696 participants progressed to dementia over ten years; Of those, 2,017 (75 percent) had no exposure to vitamin D at all visits prior to dementia diagnosis, and 679 (25 percent) had baseline exposure. Professor Zahinur Ismail, from the University of Calgary and the University of Exeter, who led the research, said: “We know that vitamin D has some effects on the brain that may have implications for reducing dementia, however until now, the research has been conflicting. have obtained conflicting results.
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Our findings provide important insight into groups that may be specifically targeted for vitamin D supplementation. Overall, we found evidence to suggest that early supplementation before the onset of cognitive decline may be particularly beneficial. “While vitamin D was effective in all groups, the team found that the effects were significantly greater in women than in men. Similarly, the effects were greater in people with normal cognition, compared with those who reported symptoms of mild cognitive impairment — Changes in cognition that are associated with a higher risk of dementia.”
The vitamin D effect was significantly greater in people who did not have the APOEe4 gene, which is known to present a higher risk for Alzheimer’s dementia than non-carriers. The authors suggest that people with the APOE4 gene absorb vitamin D better from their intestines, which may reduce the effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation. However, no blood levels were drawn to test this hypothesis. Previous research has found that low levels of vitamin D are associated with higher dementia risk. Vitamin D is involved in the clearance of amyloid in the brain, the accumulation of which is one of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
Studies have also found that vitamin D may help protect the brain from the build-up of tau, another protein involved in the development of dementia. Co-author Dr Byron Crease at the University of Exeter said: “Preventing dementia or delaying its onset is extremely important given the increasing number of people affected. The link with vitamin D in this study suggests that vitamin D Taking supplements may be beneficial in preventing or delaying dementia, but we now need clinical trials to confirm whether this is indeed the case. VitaMIND study participants running at the University of Exeter exploring this issue by randomly assigning subjects to take either vitamin D or a placebo and examining changes in memory and thinking tests over time.”
The VitaMIND study is run through PROTECT, an online study for people age 40 and older. PROTECT combines annual questionnaires on lifestyle factors detailed with cognitive testing to determine what keeps the brain sharp in later life. To learn more or to sign up, visit their website.
In Canada, CAN-Protect is a connected online study on aging in people aged 40 years and older, with an additional focus on care in dementia. The study is titled `Sex, cognitive status, and apoE effects for vitamin D risk and incident dementia`, and it is published in Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Diagnosis, Evaluation and Disease Surveillance.