“Dementia is a progressive and debilitating disease that can devastate individuals and families alike,” Prof Hyppönen says.
A study from the University of South Australia has found a direct link between dementia and a Vitamin D deficiency.
It was discovered by genetic researchers that people with low levels of vitamin D were linked to lower brain volumes, which put them at a higher risk of getting dementia or having a stroke.
According to their research about 487,500 Australians live with dementia but that number could be 17 per cent lower if there was early detection.
Dementia is the second leading cause of death in Australia and affects 55 million people worldwide.
The hopes are- according to Senior Investigator Professor Elina Hyppönen-that these findings will go on to benefit thousands of people and help improve dementia prevention.
“Vitamin D is a hormone precursor that is increasingly recognised for widespread effects, including on brain health, but until now it has been very difficult to examine what would happen if we were able to prevent vitamin D deficiency,” said Prof Hyppönen.
The genetic study was carried out in conjunction with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and used data from over 290,000 people from the UK Biobank, who had registered as having a deficiency.
“Nonlinear Mendelian randomisation (MR) – a method of using measured variation in genes to examine the causal effect of a modifiable exposure on disease – were used to test for underlying causality for neuroimaging outcomes, dementia, and stroke,” said UniSA.
“In some contexts, where vitamin D deficiency is relatively common, our findings have important implications for dementia risks. Indeed, in this UK population we observed that up to 17 per cent of dementia cases might have been avoided by boosting vitamin D levels to be within a normal range.”
Professor Hyppönen says that most people are likely to be okay but that for anyone who has this deficiency, adding Vitamin D supplements and changing their diet could be beneficial.
