"Replenishing also requires D. Deficiency of D will increase the risk of dementia" The concept is deeply rooted in people's hearts. Many people supplement vitamin D additionally, but the causal relationship has not been fully scientifically verified. Research from the National Institute of Health Research found that lack of D is not the cause of dementia, but the result of dementia; long-term supplementation for older people may increase the risk of dementia by 1.8 times, and long-term supplementation for older people may increase the risk of death by 2.17 times.
Ji Zhili, deputy director of the Institute of Molecular and Genetics of the National Hospital, and Xu Zhicheng, executive director of the Center for Advanced Medicine and Health and Welfare Research at the National Hospital, used health care data to analyze the prescription active vitamin D3 (calcitriol) for more than 146 days a year, and the risk of dementia in the future is 1.8 times that of unused patients; if dementia patients are replenished for more than 146 days a year, the risk of death is 2.17 times that of unused patients. The results have been published in the well-known academic journal in the field of aging medicine in 2021 and 2022. Cell》.
Zhang Zhili said that mice research has proved that vitamin D does not play a protective role in the process of dementia, but instead participates in "bad things (neuropathy changes). He emphasized that it is not that vitamin D is bad, but that we should hope to remind the public to reflect. Only when it is used properly can it have good results. If it is used in large quantities, it may have the opposite effect.
The research team found that under the condition of adequate vitamin D, the amount of vitamin D in the blood of Alzheimer's disease mice was significantly lower than that of wild-type mice. However, in the brains of Alzheimer's mice and Alzheimer's patients obtained through the American "brain database", the amount of vitamin D receptor protein "increases instead of reducing", and the expression location and brain-induced neuropathy of the age spots were severe.
Zhang Zhili said that in the absence of vitamin D, the vitamin D receptor protein can actually increase the performance, which shows that the original mechanism of vitamin D in cells has changed in the course of Alzheimer's disease. "Alzheimer's disease is the cause of low vitamin D, not the result of lack of vitamin D. ”
Zang Zhili further researched and found that in normal brain, vitamin D receptor protein will enter the nucleus and perform neuroprotective gene transfer work. However, in the brain of Alzheimer's mice, vitamin D receptor protein is combined with "tumor inhibitor protein p53" in cell quality, which promotes neuronal apoptosis.
In fact, p53 is a good protein that can inhibit tumors. How to control vitamin D receptor proteins and not "go to go the wrong way" with p53? Zhu Zhili said that vitamin D has both good and bad paths to go in the brain, but the proportion of bad paths may increase year by year as it grows. If p53 is inhibited, it can reduce the symptoms of brain disease. However, if Alzheimer's disease mice continue to supplement vitamin D, it will cause brain disease and intelligent degeneration.
In addition to the fact that the mouse research results overturned existing concepts, Xu Zhicheng, executive director of the Center for Advanced Medicine and Health and Welfare Research at the National Institute of Hygiene and Health and Welfare, analyzed the health care data of 10,000 to 2010 of 14,648 elderly people with 65 years of age and 948 elderly people with dementia from 2000 to 2010, and the results were also shocking.
The study found that those who take active vitamin D3 (calcitriol) for more than 146 days each year (assuming one dose per day, 0.25 micrograms per dose, equivalent to 10 international units), will have a 1.8 times risk of dementia in the future than those who do not take it. If patients with dementia take it for more than 146 days a year, the risk of death is 2.17 times that of those who are not taking it.
Xu Zhicheng said that according to health care regulations, there are three conditions for elderly people who can take vitamin D3 prescriptions, including "thyroid glands are hypothyroidism and change in osteogenesis quality", "dialysis patients (hormonal changes caused by dialysis can also cause hypothyroidism)," and "thyroid glands are loose and have had fractures". Since the first type is too small, only the latter two were included in this analysis.
"It is important to note that the above research only discovers the correlation and cannot prove the causal relationship." Xu Zhicheng said that according to random distribution research published in excellent international journals, no harm of supplementing vitamin D was seen, but it is not proven that supplementing vitamin D can prevent dementia.
Xu Zhicheng recommends that elderly and dementia patients should not supplement vitamin D in order to prevent dementia from being replenished for a large amount of vitamin D for a long time. If there are other diseases that need to be replenished, and they are worried about increasing the risk of dementia, it is recommended to discuss with the attending physician to balance the pros and cons.
If you are a child or a young person with a family history of dementia, can you supplement vitamin D for a long time? Xu Zhicheng said that children's brains are still developing. Unlike older people, there are more evidence to support children to take adequate amounts of vitamin D and calcification to prevent rime and maintain normal growth and development. As for young people with a family history of dementia, whether long-term vitamin replenishment is harmful remains to be studied further.
Xu Zhicheng reminds that it is easy to obtain vitamin D3 supplements. It is not just a health prescription, but you can buy it at any time. If people want to buy it themselves, they should pay attention to the dosage. It is best to discuss it with the doctor first. They can also consider that through natural methods such as diet, exercise, and sunshine, it can help humans synthesize vitamin D, and it will not lead to high dose problems.
