Vitamin D Levels Associated With Parkinson's Disease Risk

Individuals with higher levels of vitamin D appear to have a reduced risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a report in Archives of Neurology. Researchers studied 3,173 Finnish men and women age 50 to 79 who did not have Parkinson's disease at the beginning of the study, in 1978 to 1980.

Over a 29-year follow-up, through 2007, 50 of the participants developed Parkinson's disease. After adjusting for potentially related factors, including physical activity and body mass index, individuals in the highest quartile (one-fourth of the study population) of serum vitamin D levels had a 67 percent lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease than those in the lowest quartile of vitamin D levels.

According to the researchers, "our findings are thus consistent with the hypothesis that chronic inadequacy of vitamin D is a risk factor for Parkinson's disease."

Steve - two studies associating vitamin D deficiency with higher Parkinson's and Dementia risk in the same week? This is huge.