Lack of vitamin D bad news for diabetes, according to study

Scientists in Denmark have carried out a study into the effects of vitamin D deficiency on patients suffering from type 1 diabetes . The results of the research showed that severe vitamin D deficiency could be predictive of a rise in mortality rates from a range of causes in people with type 1 diabetes .
However, the study carried out at the Steno Diabetes Center in Gentofte and published in the journal Diabetes Care, also revealed that vitamin D deficiency was not associated with microvascular complications occurring in the kidney or eye, and it was not revealed if vitamin D substitution in type 1 diabetes patients is able to improve the prognosis.
The research involved monitoring 220 patients that were newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, with plasma vitamin D levels being assessed with liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. The patients were split into two groups, one with vitamin D levels being either equal to and below the value of the lower 10 percentile, the other above the value.
The measure for severe vitamin D deficiency was taken as equal to or under the 10th percentile (15.5 mmol/L). Levels of vitamin D were measured after factors such as age, gender, blood pressure and cholesterol were taken into account.