Low Vitamin D Levels Associated With Increased Risk for Cognitive Impairment

?July 13, 2010 (Honolulu, Hawaii) — Results of a new analysis using data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES III) show that vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk for cognitive impairment in older Americans.
The findings echo those from a second report from the same group in a different cohort showing that low levels of vitamin D were associated with subsequent cognitive decline during 6 years of follow-up.
Taken together, it appears that, "low levels of vitamin D are just genuinely bad for the brain," lead author David J. Llewellyn, PhD, from the University of Exeter Peninsula Medical School in the United Kingdom, told?Medscape Medical News. "That's why we're so excited, because vitamin D supplements are such an obvious thing that we can do something about now."

Dr. David J. Llewellyn

The expected epidemic of dementia with the aging population is already starting to appear, he said, and although long-term strategies are needed, trials that may have a short- to medium-term payoff are urgently required immediately. In that setting, trials of vitamin D for prevention may be a promising strategy, he said.
The results from NHANES III were presented here at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 2010. The results from the Invecchiare in Chianti (InCHIANTI) study appear in the July 12 issue of the?Archives of Internal Medicine.
NHANES Findings
Vitamin D was once just of interest in bone health, but recent work has suggested low vitamin D levels may be a risk factor for a wide range of age-associated diseases, Dr. Llewellyn said, including cancer, hypertension, stroke, and more recently, cognitive decline.
It is known that vitamin D crosses the blood–brain barrier and that receptors for vitamin D are found across the brain, but its precise role is still not known, Dr. Llewellyn noted. It does seem to play a role in processes that may be important for dementia risk, including vascular health and amyloid clearance from the brain. Given these associations, he noted, it seems "biologically plausible" that there might be an association of low vitamin D levels with dementia risk and cognitive performance in the general population.
It is estimated that about a billion people worldwide have vitamin D levels considered insufficient (

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