Vitamin D Deficiency and Dementia
Chronic vitamin D starvation increases risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's Disease
Hello and welcome to the StarPower Vitamin D Newsletter. You’re receiving this newsletter because you are a customer of StarPower and would likely be interested in the health, aging and longevity topics we’ll cover here. Every week we’ll select an intriguing scientific article pertaining to a new discovery involving vitamin D and decode what it means in practical terms for health and longevity. An interesting feature of this newsletter is that you can comment and ask questions at the end of the article. I can try to answer the questions and you should feel free to provide your input as well. This format has led to informative discussions in other publications that have been truly life-changing. Hopefully we can replicate that here.
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A new study (July 2022) found a link between vitamin D levels and the incidence of cognitive decline and dementia that may accompany aging. Dementia is a chronic or progressive syndrome that leads to deterioration in cognitive function. There are over 55 million people worldwide living with dementia in 2020 with 10 million new cases diagnosed every year. This number will almost double every 20 years, reaching 78 million in 2030 and 139 million in 2050.
A world-first study* from the University of South Australia using new genetic research shows a direct link between dementia and a lack of vitamin D.
Investigating the association between vitamin D, neuroimaging features, and the risk of dementia and stroke, the study found:
low levels of vitamin D were associated with lower brain volumes and an increased risk of dementia and stroke,
genetic analyses supported a causal effect of vitamin D deficiency and dementia,
in some populations as much as 17 per cent of dementia cases might be prevented by increasing everyone to normal levels of vitamin D (50 nmol/L).
As we age the size of our brains do shrink. This is caused by the gradual loss of neurons that accompanies aging. However, with Alzheimer’s Disease that neuronal loss is excessive. So the finding of smaller brains in vitamin D depleted people is interesting because it is potentially so easy to fix.
The target vitamin D level of 50 nmol/L mentioned in the study is really quite low. As a reference the 50 nmol/L value to that is equivalent to a serum reading of 20 ng/ml (the ng/ml measure is more prevalent). One StarPower per day, with 5100 IU vitamin D, should get blood levels close to 50 ng/ml.
How might vitamin D affect dementia? A hallmark characteristic of Alzheimer’s Disease is the presence of plaques or tangles that are composed of the cytoskeletons of dead neurons. Neurons die all the time, the problem is with the efficient removal of the debris. What appears to happen is that this “junk” creates an immune system response that normally takes care of the mess. However, under conditions of chronic vitamin D deficiency the immune system malfunctions and doesn’t effectively remove the debris causing dysfunction of the surrounding neurons. Or worse, the dysfunctional immune system mobilized by the debris mistakenly attacks healthy neurons. Yikes!
Remember that as we age our skin becomes less efficient at making solar generated vitamin D. Essentially this degradation within the vitamin D manufacture system is a built-in death mechanism leading to disease and debilitation, eventually death. The vitamin D-dementia connection is just one way not getting optimal vitamin D leads to problems. The only way to counteract the death mechanism is to supplement, which we all know!
*Shreeya S Navale, Anwar Mulugeta, Ang Zhou, David J Llewellyn, Elina Hyppönen. Vitamin D and brain health: an observational and Mendelian randomization study. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2022; DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqac107
More at StarPowerLifeSciences.org
Is all dementia Alzheimer's Disease? Dementia refers to a global decline in cognitive function that is associated with brain disease and aging. Alzheimer's Disease is one form of dementia. The definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease is made after death.