6. Dementia and vitamin D deficiency
A study in the journal Neurology showed that older adults with moderate and severe vitamin D deficiency had a doubled risk of developing some types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. As one of the illnesses linked to vitamin D deficiency, dementia involves a decline in behavior, memory, and thinking that negatively affects day-to-day life.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for up to 80% of dementia cases. The study mentioned above analyzed over 1,600 people ages 65 or older who didn’t have dementia at the beginning of the study.
Compared with participants who had vitamin D levels within healthy ranges, those with low levels of it had a 53% increased risk of developing all-cause dementia, while those with a severe deficiency had a 125% increased risk, experts observed.
Moreover, study authors found people who had low levels of vitamin D were about 70% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease specifically, and those with a severe deficiency were over 120% more likely to develop this neurodegenerative disorder.
