Diabetes and Vitamin D
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is essential for maintaining the health of your bones, teeth, and joints and assisting your immune system function. Getting enough sunlight is the best way to help your body produce vitamin D, and you can also boost your vitamin D intake by eating certain foods and taking supplements.
Every cell and tissue in the human body contains a vitamin D receptor, according to Diabetes.co.uk. But what is the link between diabetes and vitamin D? We’ll show you how vitamin D affects diabetic people and how vitamin D is linked to diabetes in this article.
Diabetes and Vitamin D
Despite its name, “Vitamin D” is not technically a vitamin; it is created photochemically in the skin from 7-dehydrocholesterol and is not a necessary dietary component. Vitamins are nutrients that the body cannot produce on its own; hence they must be consumed or included in one’s diet. Vitamin D, on the other hand, maybe produced by the body. One of vitamin D’s functions is to help treat diabetes by regulating insulin levels. It is thought to improve insulin sensitivity (the hormone responsible for controlling blood sugar levels) and lower the likelihood of insulin resistance, which is a precursor to type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance occurs when the cells in your muscles, fat, and liver do not respond to insulin as well as they should.
If you don’t get enough vitamin D, you’re more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. Vitamin D aids in the production of hormones that control blood sugar levels; without it, blood sugar levels are more prone to fluctuate and spiral out of control. It’s also been suggested that those freshly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes have lower vitamin D levels than those who don’t have the disease. It’s well known that increasing your vitamin D levels to roughly 60-80 ng/ml can help you keep your blood glucose levels under control, which is crucial for diabetics. Keep in mind that the ideal vitamin D level varies from person to person. The only way to find out and be sure that your vitamin D levels are where they should be is to request a 25-hydroxyvitamin D, or 25(OH)D, a blood test from your GP.
Sources of vitamin D
As said earlier, getting enough sunlight is the best way to help the body produce enough vitamin D, but here is another source of vitamin D that you can get from the foods listed down below:
- fatty fish, such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna
- egg yolks
- cheese
- beef liver
- mushrooms
- fortified milk
- fortified cereals and juices
Types of vitamin D
Vitamin D is divided into two types: Vitamin D2 and Vitamin D3. Ergocalciferol, a synthetic form of vitamin D2, has a lower shelf life. Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is the same vitamin D that the body produces when it is exposed to UVB rays. Vitamin D3 appears to be more effective than vitamin D2 at improving vitamin D levels, according to studies.
Both are effectively absorbed into the bloodstream, but the liver metabolizes them differently. Vitamin D2 supplements are also said that they might be of lower quality than vitamin D3. This is because studies suggest vitamin D2 is more sensitive to humidity and fluctuations in temperature. For this reason, vitamin D2 supplements may be more likely to degrade over time.
Not only may a deficiency of vitamin D in a person’s body induce diabetes, but it can also lead to other issues. Long-term deficiency can cause obesity, high blood pressure, psoriasis, osteoporosis, chronic fatigue, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer.