Vitamin D may improve insulin resistance already present at time of prediabetes, reveals research
Researchers discovered that vitamin D supplements could enhance the insulin sensitivity of prediabetic individuals, thereby intending to possibly delay or even prevent the progression from a prediabetic state to type 2 diabetes. Prediabetes is represented by insulin resistance, the hallmark feature of the condition; this increases one's risk for developing type 2 diabetes. New research was published in the journal Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care by Kawahara and colleagues.
The burden of prediabetes is on the rise worldwide, and millions of people are likely to develop type 2 diabetes, with heavy costs for healthcare systems worldwide. It has, therefore, been more than a reason why interest has grown in the role of vitamin D in improving insulin resistance. Hence, the 2024 American Diabetes Association guidelines underline how this supplementation could be helpful to certain groups of patients diagnosed with prediabetes and thus adds credence to its use in diabetes prevention.
The review study aimed at investigating whether vitamin D supplementation improves the state of insulin resistance in adults suffering from prediabetes and at investigating how such interventions may influence their conditions at the biological level. Further, the study also focused on answering questions related to who would gain most from vitamin D administration. Apparently, interest in vitamin D has been spurred by its well-known function in maintaining calcium homeostasis and bone metabolism, but more recent evidence proffered a new relationship between levels of this vitamin with insulin sensitivity.
A large number of people suffering from prediabetes worldwide warrants the need for preventive interventions. Numerous studies have projected that if untreated, most patients with prediabetes are expected to develop type 2 diabetes in the near future. Emerging evidence suggests that vitamin D improves insulin resistance, with the greatest benefit typically observed in populations with the lowest baseline levels of vitamin D. For example, new 2024 guidelines for the American Diabetes Association suggest that vitamin D supplementation does reduce the development of type 2 diabetes in specific populations but point to wide variability within and across ethnic groups and individuals regarding how baseline levels of vitamin D affect outcomes.
One mechanism by which vitamin D may increase insulin sensitivity is through the increase of osteocalcin levels in serum. Osteocalcin has involvement in bone turnover and has been associated with improved glucose metabolism. This provides a finding speaking to the potential role vitamin D is playing outside the more traditional metabolic pathways involving bone health and its related markers.
Targeted Interventions that may be Needed in relation to variability in the response to Vitamin D supplementation, targeted interventions may well be needed. Healthcare providers should, therefore, consider ethnicity, baseline levels of vitamin D and other individual factors when recommending vitamin D to increase management of prediabetes. This may ensure that the right set of patients is given the most benefit and will reduce their risk of progression to type 2 diabetes.
Vitamin D supplementation might be useful in enhancing the effect of improvement of insulin sensitivity in adults with prediabetes, thus possibly delaying or even preventing the onset of type 2 diabetes, although the effectiveness may depend on ethnic differences and initial blood vitamin D levels. Since vitamin D is also involved in mechanisms that enhance the serum level of osteocalcin, which is associated with increased insulin sensitivity, it promises to be useful in the treatment of prediabetes but may require more research to understand its entire effects and how best to use it in a clinic.
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