Sharing w/others – lessons learned

Researchers report that there is a correlation between insufficient levels of vitamin D and the development of early Parkinson’s disease.

A study of more than 150 Parkinson’s patients  found that a high percentage of subjects had vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency. Almost 70 percent had vitamin D insufficiency (defined as levels of less than 30 nanograms per milliliter) at the beginning of the study, while about 26 percent were classified as deficient (levels of less than 20 nanograms per milliliter.) The prevalence of insufficiency at the final visit was over 51 percent, and deficiency occurred in 7 percent.

Life Extension Magazine reports:

“Previous studies … [suggested] that long-term effects of Parkinson’s disease may contribute to the development of insufficient vitamin D concentrations … Contrary to [the] expectation that vitamin D levels might decrease over time because of disease-related inactivity and reduced sun exposure, vitamin D levels increased over the study period. These findings are consistent with the possibility that long-term insufficiency is present before the clinical manifestations of Parkinson’s disease and may play a role in the pathogenesis of PD.”