Vitamin D Deficiency Linked To Higher Risk Of Early-Onset Dementia

Forgetfulness and confusion, once considered normal signs of aging, are affecting more adults at the peak of their careers. Rates of early-onset dementia and Alzheimer’s disease among Americans younger than 65 have inexplicably doubled between 2013 and 2017, according to data from Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS), a health insurance provider.

Now, new research identifies vitamin D deficiency as one of the 15 adjustable lifestyle factors that appear to drive up a person’s early dementia risk. While the findings also highlight alcohol abuse and isolation, the surprising link between low vitamin D levels and early cognitive decline suggests a simple daily supplement may help the fight against this baffling rise. Approximately 35 percent of adults in the United States are vitamin D deficient.

The average age of someone between 30 and 64 years old living with either young-onset dementia or Alzheimer’s is 49, with women being disproportionately affected compared to men, according to the BCBS data.

The large-scale study, published in JAMA Neurology, identified 15 lifestyle and health risk factors associated with early-onset dementia. The study analyzed information from more than 356,000 people younger than 65 whose data were in the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database and research initiative in the UK, between 2006 and 2010.
“This is the largest and most robust study of its kind ever conducted,” David Llewellyn of the University of Exeter said in a statement...

Previous epidemiological studies have also linked vitamin D deficiency with an increased risk of dementia, Claire Sexton, senior director of scientific programs and outreach at the Alzheimer’s Association, told The Epoch Times...

One relevant study, published in the Alzheimer’s Association’s journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, compared dementia onset between people who took vitamin D supplements and those who did not. The study included 12,388 Americans without a dementia diagnosis at baseline, with an average age of 71.

The study found that among those who developed dementia within 10 years, about 75 percent were non-supplement takers compared to only 25 percent who took vitamin D supplements. Supplementation provided greater protection for women, though it reduced dementia risk in both sexes.

Interestingly, the study found that vitamin D seemed to offer more benefits if people supplemented it before any signs of cognitive problems. “Vitamin D effects were significantly greater in females versus males and in normal cognition versus mild cognitive impairment,” the authors wrote.

Overall, the researchers associated vitamin D supplementation with a 40 percent lower incidence of dementia than with no supplementation.