Low vitamin D 'boosts dementia risk'

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-28674158


6 August 2014 Last updated at 20:29 ET
Low vitamin D 'boosts dementia risk'

Older people who have a severe vitamin D deficiency have an increased risk of developing dementia, a study has suggested.

UK researchers, writing in Neurology, looked at about 1,650 people aged over 65.

This is not the first study to suggest a link - but its authors say it is the largest and most robust.

However, experts say it is still too early to say elderly people should take vitamin D as a preventative treatment...

 

[Emily]

Re: Low vitamin D 'boosts dementia risk'

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/835226

Vitamin D Deficiency Predicts Cognitive Decline

Megan Brooks
November 20, 2014
A new study supports a link between low levels of vitamin D and increased risk for cognitive decline, prompting calls for clinical trials to test whether vitamin D supplementation may delay or prevent dementia.

In a group of cognitively intact older adults, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) levels below 75 nmol/L at the outset predicted cognitive decline over roughly the next 4 years, independent of other factors.

"[N]eurologists and geriatricians should be aware of the possibility that in elderly individuals, vitamin D supplementation might be a potential cost-effective strategy for preventing neurodegenerative diseases," Elena D. Toffanello, MD, from University of Padova, Italy, and colleagues say.

Their study was published online November 5 in Neurology....

Study abstract:
Vitamin D deficiency predicts cognitive decline in older men and women