Vitamin D may prevent type 2 diabetes, clogged arteries

New research has suggested that Vitamin D plays a major role in preventing the inflammation that leads to type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis.

The research led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis argued against the previous study that claimed Vitamin D was linked to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Carlos Bernal-Mizrachi, the senior investigator, said that inactivation of the vitamin D receptor induced diabetes and atherosclerosis, so it concluded that normalizing vitamin D levels might have the opposite effect, and inadequate vitamin D turned immune cells into transporters of fat.

The researchers are still practicing these findings on humans, but favored their findings as it's much easier to find treatments that target something in the blood than it is to target the same cells after they move into the wall of a blood vessel. The research is published in the journal Cell Reports.