Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Higher Risk of Early-Onset Dementia
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The study identifies 15 factors tied to increased 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.
The study 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.
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.
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