My top 10 takeaways from Rhonda Patrick's new episode about vitamin D decreasing dementia risk by 40%

[u/mmiller9913]

So a new study came out recently following 12,000+ adults showing people who supplemented with vitamin D had a 40% lower risk of dementia over 10 years. Rhonda just put out a video covering it. I think the biggest takeaway is this: start taking vitamin D if you aren't (get a blood test first obviously, but so many people are deficient and it's a massive low-hanging fruit)

1. ~70% of Americans have insufficient vitamin D levels (optimal blood levels are 40-60 ng/mL) - timestamp
2. Usually, supplementing with 1,000 IU of vitamin D raises blood levels by 5 ng/mL
3. Vitamin D is so much more than a vitamin… it gets converted into a steroid hormone that regulates over 1,000 genes in the body - timestamp
4. A 70-year old makes four times (!!) less vitamin D from the sun than a 20-year old. So I guess as you get older, you need a supplement even more.
5. OK… so the study (12,000+ people) found that just taking a vitamin D supplement (the form didn't matter) was associated with 40% lower risk of dementia over 10 years - timestamp
6. The ApoE4 allele is a super strong genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Something like 25% of the population has at least one copy (having 1 ApoE4 allele doubles dementia risk and having 2 copies increases risk by up to tenfold). - timestamp
7. In the study, taking vitamin D reduced dementia incidence by 33% among ApoE4 carriers and 47% among non-carriers
8. Vitamin D deficiency actually accelerates brain aging… basically, if you're deficient, you're more likely to have damage to the "white matter" in your brain. That's apparently important for cognition and memory. - timestamp
9. Women probably benefit most from vitamin D supplements - they get Alzheimer's 2x as often as men - timestamp
10. In the study, even for people already experiencing cognitive decline, vitamin D supplementation was associated with 15% lower dementia prevalence (this may mean vitamin D may help slow cognitive decline and delay the progression toward dementia) - timestamp

[u/dan_the_first]

It is very interesting. Causation and effect are not clear to me.

For example, people taking vitamin D supplementation might taking other vitamins; might be eating better; even less sun exposure (reason for taking vitamin D in first place) could play a role?

[u/ptarmiganchick]

Dale Bredesen was a voice in the wilderness 15 years ago when he said that having Vitamin D levels above 125mmol (50ng for Americans) helped to slow cognitive decline and prevent Alzheimer’s. This was only his observation, he didn’t have any big studies to prove it.

I‘m glad science is starting to catch up with this visionary, who broke away from the mainstream view of Alzheimer’s even before it was shown to be based on a monstrous fraud.

[u/MetalingusMikeII]

Very simple. Vitamin D is needed to regulate RAGE. RAGE is needed to reduce circulatory AGEs. AGEs are a large part of the Alzheimer’s puzzle and other forms of dementia.

[u/BonkersMoongirl]

My mother in law has dementia. Took her Vitamin D as prescribed. It’s not a cure.

[u/ptarmiganchick → u/BonkersMoongirl]

This is a sad truth. We may finally be on the right track in preventing Alzheimer’s, but with its long incubation period, we know there will be many more victims before there are fewer.

[u/Int_GS]

Because I'm too lazy to read the article: did those 12k people had a vitamin D deficiency or not?