Vit. D Council: Controlled vitamin D trial released today

[Guest guest]

Vitamin D Council

Press Release

June 30, 2011

Diabetes

We are all waiting for the 900 or so randomized controlled trials that

scientists are conducting using vitamin D.  This morning, researchers working

at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, under the direction of Professor Anastassios

Pittas, published just such a randomized controlled trial in the American

Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Their research group reported that 2,000 IU/day of vitamin D, given for 12

weeks, significantly improved pancreatic function in mildly overweight adults

with pre-diabetes. Unfortunately, the lead author, Dr. Joanna Mitri, did not

comment on the low dose of vitamin D they used, 2,000 IU/day, which only

increased vitamin D levels from 24 to 30 ng/ml. Nor, in spite of it being a

randomized controlled trial, did the authors make any new clinical

recommendations for the people who paid for their study, the citizens of the

United States.

In spite of the low dose and short length of their study, they found their

principal outcome, a measurement of pancreatic function, increased by 300 in the

vitamin D group but fell by 126 in the placebo group. I cannot link the study to

PubMed as it is not yet listed there; it will be in a few days.

Joanna Mitri, Bess Dawson-, B Hu, and Anastassios G Pittas.

 Effects of vitamin D and calcium supplementation on pancreatic b cell

function, insulin sensitivity, and glycemia in adults at high risk of diabetes:

the Calcium and Vitamin D for Diabetes Mellitus (CaDDM) randomized controlled

trial. AJCN. First published ahead of print June 29, 2011 as doi:

10.3945/ajcn.111.011684.

In the end, they studied 22 volunteers in the vitamin D group and 22 in the

placebo group. However, to give you an idea of what a feat this study was, how

difficult it was to get enough subjects, they started with 911 subjects yet

ended up randomizing only 44 into the vitamin D study. They did a parallel

calcium study with 45 subjects, which found calcium had no benefit on pancreatic

function.

The same senior author, Professor Anastassios Pittas, recently announced the

results of a much larger epidemiological study that showed for every 5 ng/mL

increase in vitamin D levels, the risk of developing diabetes dropped by 8%. 

However, he was quick to warn that such epidemiological studies should not

change clinical recommendations, only randomized controlled trials can do that.

Then, when he oversees just such a randomized trial, not a word of clinical

advice, only the ever-present request for more research money from the citizens

of this country.

http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20110628/study-vitamin-d-may-cut-risk-of-diabetes

Of course the Food and Nutrition Board will say they never said levels greater

than 20 ng/ml had no added benefits, only that no good evidence existed for such

a benefit at the time they issued their report. Actually, if you exclude the

science of epidemiology, that is still a false statement. The point is that

history will record that someone was wrong.  Maybe it will be me and the

Vitamin D Council’s recommendation, going into its fifth year, that adults

should take at least 5,000 IU per day.  Or maybe it will be Professor A.

Catharine Ross, of Penn­sylvania State University, the chairwoman of the recent

FNB that concluded 600 IU/day is the Recommended Daily Allowance, all adults

need.  Looking at the study published today, it is clear that 600 IU/day would

not have resulted in a significant improvement in pancreatic function.

I predict that after most of the randomized controlled trials are out – in

another ten years – the FNB will meet again and say “whoops,†it should

have been 5,000 IU/day all along. However, by then the premature death count

will be in the millions.

Cannell, MD

Vitamin D Council

1241 Road, #134

San Obispo, CA 93401