This Supplement Could Cut Your Dementia Risk By 40%

0:00 Dr.

0:00 Ron Patrick here.

0:01 A new study found that vitamin D supplementation was associated

0:05 with a 40% lower risk of dementia over a decade.

0:09 After just 5 years, 84% of the vitamin D supplement

0:13 users were dementi free compared to 68% of the non-users.

0:18 This was a study of over 12,000 people.

0:21 And vitamin D reduced dementia risk by around 33%

0:24 in adults with mild cognitive impairment and also had APOE E4.

0:29 This is a key genetic risk factor for neurodeenerative diseases.

0:32 Up to 25% of the population has one of these alals and it

0:37 can double the risk of Alzheimer's disease if you have one of them.

0:40 If you have two of these alals,

0:42 you can have up to a t-fold higher risk of Alzheimer's disease.

0:47 Vitamin D is not just a vitamin.

0:49 Vitamin D gets converted into a steroid hormone

0:52 that regulates over a thousand genes in our body.

0:56 It enters the nucleus of our cells and it regulates,

0:59 it activates and turns on or it suppresses and turns

1:03 off up to nearly 5% of the protein encoding human genome.

1:07 This is very relevant because up to 70% of Americans

1:11 fall into a range known as deficient or insufficient.

1:14 So almost 30% of Americans actually are vitamin D deficient.

1:19 They have levels of 25 hydroxy vitamin D below 20 nanogs per milliliter.

1:25 The other 40% or so has levels that's known as insufficient.

1:30 So these are people that have vitamin D levels above 20 nanogs per milliliter,

1:33 but they're below 30 nanogs per milliliter.

1:36 And there's really a simple solution

1:37 to avoiding this deficiency and insufficiency,

1:40 and that is a vitamin D supplement.

1:43 Usually people that are vitamin D deficient,

1:46 if they take around 2 to 4,000 IUs per day, they can get to a sufficient level.

1:52 There's a lot of reasons why vitamin

1:54 D deficiency and insufficiency is so widespread.

1:58 That is because we actually make vitamin D

2:01 in our skin upon exposure from UV radiation from the sun.

2:08 So, anything that blocks out UVB radiation is also going

2:12 to block out the ability to produce vitamin D3 in our skin.

2:17 That includes sunscreen.

2:18 It also includes skin pigmentation.

2:21 So melanin, this is this is the darker pigmentation that serves as a natural

2:26 sunscreen that also blunts the body's ability

2:28 to make vitamin D3 from UVB radiation.

2:32 Age.

2:32 As you get older, your body is less efficient

2:35 and effective at producing vitamin D3 from sun exposure.

2:38 In fact, a 70-year-old makes four times less vitamin

2:41 D from the sun than a 20-year-old where you live.

2:44 So living in a northern latitude many months of the year

2:49 actually there's no UVB radiation even reaching the atmosphere.

2:53 So people that are living in more northern latitude areas are not able to make

2:58 vitamin D3 in their skin from the sun for many many months out of the year.

3:03 So that also really affects the ability to make vitamin D.

3:06 And then also just body fat.

3:08 So vitamin D is actually a fat soluble vitamin and it's stored in fat.

3:13 And so the more body fat that you have,

3:16 that means the less vitamin D3 is bioavailable to be released

3:20 into the bloodstream where that it undergoes

3:22 further metabolic conversion to the steroid hormone,

3:26 which is actually what's regulating all these genes, many of them in the brain.

3:31 Now, we're going to dive a little bit deeper

3:32 into the study that showed a 40% lower risk of dementia.

3:36 But I want to mention first that this is not the first study to show this.

3:39 I mean there are many many many what are called observational studies

3:45 that are looking at a correlation between

3:48 low vitamin D levels and dementia risk.

3:50 Many different studies have found this same association.

3:54 And so one might say, well,

3:56 people that are vitamin D deficient might just be less healthy.

4:00 They might be going out in the sun less.

4:02 They're exercising less.

4:03 And so vitamin D deficiency might just be biomarking some other health factor.

4:09 So that is a I would say pretty relevant argument.

4:14 But we also have a whole host of other data to support

4:17 the link between vitamin D deficiency

4:19 and dementia risk and Alzheimer's disease risk.

4:22 So for example with these observational studies

4:25 we can look at what's called mandelian randomization.

4:28 This is a way to use genetics to look

4:31 at how something in the environment can affect an outcome.

4:34 In this case, there's many different genes

4:37 that regulate the ability of your body

4:39 to pro to to produce vitamin D3 and convert it into the steroid hormone.

4:45 And some people do that less effectively because they have a certain

4:49 variation in those genes that are not doing it quite as well.

4:53 And so you can look at genetically low vitamin D levels.

4:56 In other words, you just look at someone's genes and if they have

5:00 a certain variation of that vitamin D

5:03 converting gene that makes it not as effective,

5:06 you put them into the low vitamin D group because we

5:08 know people with those genes actually do have low vitamin D.

5:11 And then you compare them to people that have the normal

5:14 functioning genes that don't make them have low vitamin D levels.

5:18 They don't have low 125 hydroxy vitamin D, which is the actual steroid hormone.

5:23 And then you look at the risk for dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

5:27 And so what's been shown is that genetically low

5:30 vitamin D levels increase dementia risk by up to 54%.

5:36 Again, this is really confirming that observational

5:39 data which really can't really show causation.

5:44 And so it strengthens that data.

5:47 But then you can go a step further and you can look

5:49 at other studies that have shown

5:51 vitamin D deficiency actually accelerates brain aging.

5:55 So there have been studies that have shown that have

5:58 looked by fMRI at what's called white matter hyperintensities.

6:03 So these kind of show up of as little

6:05 white hypers spots if you're looking at a MRI

6:07 image of the brain and it's really a marker

6:10 of damage to the white matter in the brain.

6:13 And the white matter is where is it's

6:16 it's so important for brain function for communication.

6:19 It's how your brain is communicating.

6:21 So when you have damage to that white matter, it really does affect cognition.

6:25 It affects communication and memory.

6:27 For every 10 nanomal per liter increase in vitamin D,

6:32 there was a small decrease in the volume of these white matter hyperintensities,

6:38 suggesting that having higher levels of vitamin D

6:41 can protect against this type of brain damage.

6:45 Even a step further,

6:47 looking at vitamin D supplementation and how that can affect cognition.

6:52 Now, there's there's a lot of mixed data out there,

6:55 particularly when it comes to vitamin D

6:57 supplementation affecting cognition in normal healthy adults,

7:01 but there have been a few trials that have actually looked at vitamin

7:04 D supplementation in people with either Alzheimer's

7:07 disease or people with mild cognitive impairment.

7:12 So both in both those scenarios and people

7:14 with mild cognitive impairment if they took around 800

7:18 IUs of vitamin D daily for a year

7:21 they had significant improvements in multiple areas of cognition,

7:24 memory, attention, overall IQ.

7:27 And the same goes with the Alzheimer's disease study.

7:29 So people that took again 800 IUs a day for over

7:33 a year and these people were already diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

7:37 They also had improved scores on memory and attention

7:40 tests similar to that first trial I just mentioned.

7:43 But additionally, there was also a reduction

7:45 in blood biomarkers of amalloid beta pathology such as amaloid beta 42

7:50 which is associated with Alzheimer's disease progression.

7:53 So this data really strengthens the argument that low vitamin D can increase

8:00 dementia risk and that supplementing with vitamin D can help lower that risk.

8:04 which brings us back to this recent study where vitamin

8:07 D supplementation was associated with a 40% lower risk of dementia.

8:12 So, let's dive into that a little bit closer.

8:14 So, the study included 12,388 adults who were divided into two groups.

8:20 Those who reported using vitamin D supplements in any form.

8:24 It could be calcium vitamin D.

8:25 It could be the active form of vitamin D.

8:28 Um it could be vitamin D2.

8:30 So any form of vitamin D, it didn't matter what form.

8:34 And then the other group it was divided into is

8:36 those that did not take any form of vitamin D supplement.

8:40 There was a 10-year follow-up.

8:42 And during that period, supplementing with vitamin D was associated

8:45 with a 40% lower incidence of dementia.

8:48 Over 2,000 participants who reported never

8:51 using vitamin D supplements developed dementia compared

8:55 to just 679 of those participants who

8:58 actually did report using vitamin D supplements.

9:02 Supplementing with vitamin D was also

9:04 associated with a greater 5-year dementiareree survival.

9:08 So 84% of adults in the vitamin D group were free of dementia during this time

9:13 period while only 68% of the nonvitamin D

9:17 users were de dementi-free during that same period.

9:20 And this was also true regardless of whether or not

9:23 the participants had baseline mild

9:25 cognitive decline or normal cognitive function.

9:28 So vitamin D seemed to provide a benefit in both of those scenarios.

9:33 And while dementia prevalence was higher

9:35 in adults with mild cognitive impairment,

9:38 it was around 15% lower in this group for adults

9:41 who supplemented with vitamin D compared to those who didn't.

9:45 So in other words, even if you

9:46 already had some sort of mild cognitive impairment,

9:52 you still had a lower risk of actually transitioning

9:54 to dementia if you were supplementing with vitamin D.

9:58 Although vitamin D supplementation reduced dementia risk among all groups,

10:03 there were several interesting findings regarding

10:04 the benefits of vitamin D for certain populations.

10:07 So for example, women derived the greatest benefit from vitamin D,

10:11 um they actually experienced less dementia compared to men who supplemented.

10:15 And while vitamin D using men had a 26% lower dementia incidence than non-users,

10:21 vitamin D using women had almost

10:23 a 50% lower incidence compared to non-using women.

10:28 So really there's a much bigger difference

10:29 in terms of women having a lower incidence.

10:32 And I'm wondering if that's because generally speaking,

10:36 women get dementia and Alzheimer's disease about twice

10:40 as higher of a frequency than men do.

10:43 So there just might be more of a signal here to lower.

10:46 That's one possibility.

10:49 Adults that had normal baseline cognitive function had a 56%

10:54 lower dementia incidence if they supplemented with vitamin D.

10:58 But adults that did have mild cognitive impairment only

11:01 had a 33% lower incidence of dementia if they supplemented.

11:04 So, in other words, if you were already

11:06 if you started out dementia free and healthy, vitamin D had a more robust effect

11:11 on lowering your dementia incidence, which makes sense.

11:14 If you're already in a state of mild cognitive impairment,

11:17 it's much harder to kind of reverse damage that's already been done.

11:20 Um, and this brings us to APOE4.

11:22 So, I mentioned earlier APOE4 is

11:25 the biggest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.

11:28 25% of the population carries at least one AIL.

11:31 Having one alil can increase the risk of dementia,

11:34 Alzheimer's disease by twofold.

11:35 Having two copies of that alil can increase the risk up to 10fold.

11:39 So, it's really um important for people to understand

11:42 that if they have one of these alals

11:45 that that they really need to try to do everything

11:47 they can within their lifestyle to lower their dementia risk.

11:50 And so, people that had APOE4 that supplemented with vitamin

11:54 D did reduce their incidence of dementia by around 33%.

11:58 And among non-arriers, vitamin D reduced the incidence of dementia by 47%,

12:04 a little bit higher, which is not surprising.

12:06 And supplementing with vitamin D wasn't enough to outweigh

12:08 the effects of carrying one or two copies of APOE4.

12:12 These participants still had a 16% greater risk of dementia than non-arriers,

12:17 even non-arriers who didn't use vitamin D.

12:19 The same was true for another risk factor having

12:22 mild cognitive impairment which elevated dementia incidents by nearly

12:27 400% compared to people that had normal cognitive function

12:31 even in the presence of vit vitamin D supplementation.

12:34 So in other words you if you have an ApoE4 alil or if you had mild cognitive

12:39 impairment at the baseline then you just you had

12:42 a tremendously higher risk of getting dementia Alzheimer's disease.

12:47 However, the vitamin D supplementation did still help.

12:51 It didn't it just didn't help as much as someone that was healthy

12:54 and had normal cognitive function and was

12:56 a non-arrier at the start of this study.

13:00 Okay, so let's dig a little bit deeper.

13:02 Participants with mild cognitive impairment who didn't supplement

13:05 with vitamin D had more than a 600% increase

13:08 in dementia risk compared to the adults with normal

13:11 normal cognitive function even those who didn't use vitamin D.

13:14 So in other words, I just mentioned that people

13:18 that had mild cognitive impairment had a 400% higher

13:23 risk of having dementia compared to people that had

13:28 normal cognitive function at the beginning of the trial,

13:30 but that was only if they supplemented with vitamin D.

13:33 People that didn't supplement with vitamin D had a 600% higher

13:36 risk of developing dementia if they started with mild cognitive impairment.

13:41 It also didn't matter what form vitamin D was used.

13:44 All of them were associated with a lower dementia risk.

13:47 Um, specifically using calcium vitamin D was

13:50 associated with a 44% lower risk of dementia.

13:53 And using vitamin D3 was associated with a 37% lower risk of dementia.

13:59 And then using vitamin D2, which is the plant version,

14:02 was actually associated with a 50% lower risk of dementia.

14:05 Using combined forms of vitamin D was associated with a 50% lower risk.

14:11 So I think here in concluding thoughts overall not only this the findings

14:16 of this study but the other the other studies that I talked about

14:19 really do give strong support to this idea that everyone should probably be

14:24 supplementing with at least some vitamin

14:26 D to make sure they're avoiding deficiency.

14:29 And I mentioned as I mentioned earlier

14:31 deficiency is a widespread you know problem

14:33 in the United States up to 70% of people are either deficient or insufficient.

14:39 So getting a simple blood test is one of the best things you can do.

14:42 Measure your 25 hydroxy vitamin D levels.

14:45 This is the precursor to the active steroid hormone 125 hydroxy vitamin D.

14:51 And you want to have your 25 hydroxy vitamin D levels between you know 30 to 60

14:56 nanogs per milliliter is a great I would

14:59 say level to have your vitamin D levels.

15:01 You don't really want to go above 80 nanogs per milliliter.

15:04 Then you start getting into a pretty high range.

15:07 Most people can take a supplement in the range

15:10 of 2,000 to 4,000 IUs a day depending where

15:14 your blood levels are at and keep keep their vitamin

15:17 D levels within that, you know, 40 to 60 range.

15:21 So, it's good to kind of do a annual

15:25 vitamin D blood test just to make sure you're not

15:27 taking too much or to make sure that you're actually

15:29 taking enough to raise your levels into that sweet spot.

15:32 And lastly, I just want to mention how vitamin D can support brain health.

15:36 So vitamin D can enhance the removal of amalloid beta.

15:40 This is a protein that's linked to Alzheimer's

15:41 disease by promoting its elux from the brain.

15:44 Now I mentioned in that study it was a randomized control trial

15:47 in people that were giving an 800 IUs of vitamin D a day.

15:51 People that already had Alzheimer's disease.

15:53 It lowered their amaloid beta plaque burden.

15:55 Um vitamin D also is an immune modulator.

15:58 So vitamin D receptors on micro ga

16:00 and aststerittytes in the brain help reduce excess neuroinflammation.

16:05 So it it basically helps lower

16:07 the pro-inflammatory cytoine response in the brain.

16:10 We know that neuroinflammation plays a major major role

16:14 in the cause uh of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

16:17 Vitamin D also upregulates a variety of neurotrophic factors including

16:21 nerve growth factor and um also brain drive neurotrphic factors.

16:25 So this is helping support neurotransmitters, supporting learning and memory.

16:30 And then lastly, vitamin D also decreases oxidative stress.

16:34 It's been shown in the the mild

16:36 cognitive impairment trial that I mentioned earlier.

16:39 This was a randomized control trial.

16:40 Those individuals that took vitamin D also had decreased levels of various

16:45 markers of oxidative stress compared to people that were given the placebo.

16:48 Um, and so, you know,

16:49 oxidative stress is an indirect way that can lead to a variety of, you know,

16:55 inflammatory processes and stuff in the brain as well.

16:58 So, there's several different mechanisms by which

17:01 vitamin D can support brain health.

17:03 And again, it's pretty simple to get a vitamin D test

17:06 and to take a relatively inexpens inexpensive vitamin D supplement as well.

17:11 I'm Dr.

17:12 Rhonda Patrick and I'll talk to you soon.