Saturday, January 02, 2010
Anti-Aging
03/01/2010 00:19:00 admin
By David Liu davidl at foodconsumer dot org
Maintaining high levels of vitamin D in the blood may help elderly people ward off dementia, Alzheimer's disease and stroke, according to a new study published in the Jan 5, 2010 issue of Neurology.
The study found elderly people with vitamin D insufficiency were twice as likely to have dementia, Alzheimer's disease and stroke as those with sufficient vitamin D.
For the study, Buell J.S. and colleagues from Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University examined the association between vitamin D status, dementia, and cerebrovascular disease among 231 women and 109 men aged 65 to 99 who participated in the study from 2003 to 2007.
Of the participants, 23.9 % had dementia like Alzheimer's, 14.5 percent had Vitamin D deficiency, and 44.3 percent had vitamin D insufficiency.
Vitamin D deficiency was defined as having less than 10 ng/mL of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and vitamin D insufficiency was defined as having lower than 10 to 20 ng/mL of vitamin D in the blood.
After adjustment for age, race, sex, body mass index, and education, vitamin D insufficiency was linked to 130 percent increased risk of all cause dementia, 15 percent increased risk of Alzheimer's and 100 percent increased risk of stroke.