Vitamin D may be effective against insulin resistance
New research suggests that vitamin D supplements may help reduce insulin resistance. This effect has been observed in people with type 2 diabetes, but there are also promising results in people with prediabetes.
The number of people with prediabetes, the precursor to type 2 diabetes, is increasing rapidly worldwide. This makes finding ways to prevent this condition more important than ever, especially as diabetes places a huge burden on healthcare costs.
What is insulin resistance?
Insulin resistance occurs when the body responds less well to insulin, the hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels. This keeps blood sugar levels high, which can eventually lead to type 2 diabetes. Many factors can contribute to insulin resistance, such as heredity, obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle with too many carbohydrate-rich foods.
Research from Iran
A recent Iranian study tested the effect of vitamin D on insulin resistance in 100 people with type 2 diabetes. The participants were given a high dose of vitamin D3 (50.000 units) every week for eight weeks. At the beginning and end of the study, their blood sugar (FPG), insulin levels and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were measured. The results were promising: blood sugar levels decreased from an average of 138,48 mg/dl to 131,02 mg/dl and insulin production decreased from 10,76 μIu/ml to 8,6 μIu/ml. This means that after vitamin D supplementation, the participants needed less insulin to control their blood sugar, a sign that their insulin resistance had improved.
Vitamin D and prediabetes
Vitamin D may also have beneficial effects in people with prediabetes. Prediabetes is a phase in which blood sugar levels are elevated, but not yet high enough to be called diabetes. However, people with prediabetes do have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Recent guidelines from the American Diabetes Association (2024) show that vitamin D supplements may be able to delay the transition from prediabetes to diabetes. People with low vitamin D levels or a certain ethnic background in particular seem to benefit from extra vitamin D.
The mechanism of action of vitamin D is not yet fully understood, but scientists suspect that the effect is partly due to the increase in osteocalcin. Osteocalcin is a protein that plays a role in bone renewal and also influences the insulin response in the body.
What does this mean for the future?
While vitamin D isn’t the only solution to insulin resistance and diabetes, it does offer hope. Supplementing with vitamin D may help improve insulin sensitivity, both in people with type 2 diabetes and in those with prediabetes. However, more research is needed before vitamin D can be routinely recommended. Scientists want to understand exactly how vitamin D works and which groups of people will benefit most from it.
Early results are promising, and we may see more vitamin D supplements as part of insulin resistance treatment in the future. For now, however, it seems to be an interesting option for people with low vitamin D levels who are already at increased risk of diabetes.
Source reference:
About this blogger
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Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and a lover of good music.
Enough hobbies, but unfortunately little time: writing for Thailandblog, fitness, health and nutrition, shooting sports, chatting with friends and some other oddities.
My motto: "Don't worry too much, others will do that for you."
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A resort in vit. D gives more problems. Plenty of sun, meat, cheese and milk are good sources.
The main cause of Insulin resistance is that we consume an extreme amount of carbohydrates.17 x more than 100 years ago.
Carbohydrates are not essential, which also includes fiber.
A keto diet (low carb, high fat diet) or a carnivore diet high in animal fat can completely reverse type 2 diabetes, with many other health benefits.
The ketogenic diet is so called because so few (less than 6 and% = approx. 10 g) carbohydrates are eaten that ketone bodies (such as acetone) are formed in the body. This can be effective for the treatment of Type 2 DM, especially if there is overweight. However, a less radical reduction of carbohydrates also works. However, it is important in this context that the possible use of blood sugar lowering medication must be reviewed to prevent hypoglycemia. Consultation with the attending physician is necessary.
A Vit D prophylaxis or treatment of a deficiency can be supportive.
the four pillars of treatment that cure more than 90% of all type 2 DM:
1. Normalize body weight
2. Exercise
3. Healthy food
4. Stress management and possible treatment of depression
Each of these areas can be filled in differently and it is optimal when an interdisciplinary team of doctors and therapists work together
Speaking of supplements, but these are Thai supplements, I live with my girlfriend in Isaan and one afternoon we were cleaning up a bit, my assignment was to remove the low hanging branches, with a huge cleaver, that went well until it went wrong! I promptly chopped my index finger in half, I kept quiet but she noticed something was wrong, YOUR OK she shouted….O MY GOD!.. She quickly ran into the forest and came back not much later with a few leaves and something like a liana but in mini form, with the leaves and the liana she tied the whole thing around my index finger, yes believe it or not, but after a few days my index finger was healed again!
The moral of the story is if you live in Thailand and you have something or you are not feeling well, go and ask the Thai residents for advice, preferably the older generation!
Man, what a load of stuff we read here.
Cut your finger in half, put some leaves around it and after a few days everything is healed again. No stitches needed, nothing!
The miracles are not over yet.
Good advice Ed.
There is still much to learn.
However, in the case of a large wound (half a finger), there is also a tendon or several ligaments involved.
These can only be repaired surgically.
Well, should I join in with the tall tales? And it really happened.
My grass was too high; laziness on my part. And still through it with shorts; ouch! Bitten by … I don’t know… Iodine and everything will be fine. But no, it didn’t turn out fine. Every time new skin grew, it fell off again and I was left with an open wound. GP, ointment, another one, but months later I still had an open wound.
A fitness buddy, who had been a nurse in the US, suspected it was a spider and took me to a granny just outside the city. Ninety years! She looked at the wound and that without glasses or contact lenses, and got a needle. A clean one, I understood, because you never know. She picked a little black thing out of the wound, a few mm big, and said 'fang mengmoem'. Literally: the fang of the spider. But she meant the venom sac.
Got a ginger root to rub in and a week later the problem was solved. The new skin stayed. How come? No idea, but a bee's stinger also keeps 'pumping' for a while. I had the grass mowed short...
About ten generations ago I also had a family member who advised and helped with these kinds of suggestions.
It is mentioned in the link https://scientias.nl/kwakzalvers/
Of course, there is nothing wrong with the current advisors, who use the digital highway as a source of information and are nothing more than a relay point between the kitchen and the living room, but I would still advise some, if not many, not to blindly follow something.
Have a nice day, Ladies and Gentlemen.