Found this interesting: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-chen-md/vitamin-d-diabetes-_b_2220128.html
It turns out, those of us with diabetes often suffer from low vitamin D. I have to take at least 6000 IUs/day in order to maintain normal levels. For a while I had to take 10,000 IUs/day. That is like 20 times the recommended daily allowance.
But just because we suffer from vitamin D issues doesn't mean that taking vitamin D can "prevent" diabetes. That is just wishful thinking from the authors.
The U.S. population at large is woefully deficient in Vitamin D. This is important for everyone, but especially for us because Vitamin D plays a role in carbohydrate metabolism.
I am still struggling to get my Vitamin up to a normal level, and it's not there yet. We recently upped my daily intake from 5000 units to 7000. We'll see what the next test reveals and go from there.
All that being so, Brian is exactly right. It's something we need but it is neither a guaranteed preventative nor a cure. Would that it were that easy!!
The study that Dr. Chen cites is not isolated. Dan Hurley wrote an excellent book called 'Diabetes Rising', and devotes an entire chapter to the subject of Vitamin D and type 1 diabetes (chapter entitled 'Sunshine Hypothesis').
He quotes a professor at Catholic University in the Netherlands named Roger Bouillon, MD, PhD. He recited a quote from Dr. Bouillon in 2002: "There are enough data to conclude that vitamin D supplements can protect beta cells. We ... urge especially the parents of children with a higher risk for type 1 diabetes (e.g., first degree relatives) to adhere to these supplements and to avoid even marginal vitamin D deficiency."
Hurley makes a very strong case in the chapter that there is a major link between the lack of vitamin D and the development of type 1 diabetes. I wish the chapter was online someplace, but I just checked the book out of the library. I refer to the book so often, I may have to buy a copy.
Here is an interesting speech by an Epidemeologist about this topic.
That's interesting, I did NOT know diabetics often suffer from low Vit D levels. I guess that explains why my level is so low, I to am on 10,000 units twice a week. Do you know what the rationale behind this is?