Monday, July 19, 2010

Vitamin D levels linked to Parkinson's disease risk

From AFP:
Greater levels of vitamin D have been linked to a lower risk of Parkinson's disease in a study in Finland where low sunlight leads to a chronic lack of the nutrient, researchers said Monday.

Scientists from the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland, first hypothesized that Parkinson's "may be caused by a continuously inadequate vitamin D status leading to a chronic loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain."

Vitamin D, supplied chiefly by the sun's ultraviolet rays and a small range of foods, is known to play a role in bone health and may also be linked to cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, the researchers said.

The Finnish study, published in the July issue of Archives of Neurology, followed 3,173 Parkinson's-free Finnish men and women aged 50-79 over a 29-year period from 1978-2007. ...more

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