Vitamin D is especially important for type 2 diabetics

One Way or Another

If you have type 2 diabetes, one way or another, you should probably make a special effort to increase your vitamin D intake unless you’re absolutely certain your D levels are high.

Do it for all the reasons vitamin D has been shown to benefit health. But also do it to significantly lower your risk of blood clots.

Foam blocker

When your body is threatened by disease (such as type 2 diabetes), your immune system develops a type of white blood cell called macrophages. These defender cells help control bacteria, tumor cells, and other invaders. Macrophages also help stimulate the immune system.

So macrophages are good. But they can also cause a problem because they consume cholesterol. In fact, macrophages actually feast on oxidated LDL cholesterol. Now that sounds like it might be useful, but when macrophages are engorged with bad cholesterol they become “foam cells,” which impede blood flow – an early stage of atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries).

Enter, vitamin D.

New evidence shows that D may actually prevent macrophages from Hoovering up the LDL cholesterol – significantly reducing this threat to your arteries and heart health.

No debate

Researchers at Washington University recently examined the interaction between vitamin D and macrophages.

They began by obtaining macrophage samples from more than 75 type 2 diabetics, then collected similar samples from non-diabetics. Some subjects had adequate vitamin D levels, and some had low D levels.

When samples were exposed to LDL cholesterol, foam cell formation was suppressed in the high vitamin D samples, while foam cells proliferated in the samples that were D- deficient.

The Washington University team believes that atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetics might be delayed and even reversed when D levels are raised. Lead researcher, Carlos Bernal-Mizrachi, M.D., told NutraIngredients-USA: “There is debate about whether any amount of sun exposure is safe, so oral vitamin D supplements may work best.”

Actually, there is no debate about sun exposure unless you include anti-sunlight zealots who would have us believe that a full body wrap and daily applications of SPF 2,000 are necessary to prevent skin cancer. Take them out of the picture (please!) and no debate is necessary: Moderate daily exposure to sunlight is exactly what most of us need.

As I’ve noted in past e-Alerts, vitamin D3 supplements are useful as well. In fact, for most people who live far from the equator, they’re probably essential.

Good dietary sources of vitamin D include cod liver oil, eggs, and oily fish such as salmon, sardines, trout, and tuna.

You can read about the role vitamin D plays in controlling insulin sensitivity in the e-Alert “Let the Sun Shine” (7/8/04).

Sources:
“1,25(OH)2 Vitamin D Inhibits Foam Cell Formation and Suppresses Macrophage Cholesterol Uptake in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus” Circulation, Published online ahead of print, 8/10/09, circ.ahajournals.org
“Study Identifies Vitamin D’s Benefits for Diabetic Heart Health” Stephen Daniells, NutraIngredients-USA, 8/24/09, nutraingredients-usa.com