Vitamin-D supplements benefit diabetic Indian women

SYDNEY - Women from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with insulin resistance showed marked improvement after taking vitamin D supplements, says a study.

Von Hurst, nutrition lecturer at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health at Albany, conducted the study for her doctoral thesis.

Insulin resistance is largely symptom-free and sufferers are unaware of their condition. “Once it has fully developed into type-2 diabetes, it can be treated, but not cured,” says Von Hurst.

Von Hurst says that while diet and exercise play a major part in the onset of type-2 diabetes, her findings reinforce the importance of vitamin D from the sun and supplements to prevent type-2 diabetes. She also found evidence of vitamin D increasing bone strength in older women.

Initial screening of 235 New Zealand-based women from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka aged 20 and older revealed that 47 percent were insulin deficient and 84 percent were vitamin D deficient.

The 81 recruited for the study were split into two groups for a randomised controlled trial and given a vitamin D supplement or placebo.

As well as an improvement in insulin resistance among those who took vitamin D for six months, Von Hurst says that post-menopausal women in the study also showed a reduced rate of bone breakdown.

Von Hurst undertook the study because South Asian women are known to have a higher predisposition to developing health conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

New Zealand’s Indian population has risen from 60,000 in 2001 to more than 107,000.