Vitamin D Deficit Found in Kids With Type 1 Diabetes

"We found in children with type 1 diabetes a pretty significant level of vitamin D insufficiency - much more than we had expected to find," said lead researcher Britta Svoren, an instructor in pediatrics, whose study was published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Both diabetes and lack of vitamin D are associated with declining bone mineral density. And when bones become more porous and fragile, they can fracture more readily. Vitamin D deficiency may even play a role in the development of type 1 diabetes, though the connection is unclear. In Svoren's study, the research team measured vitamin D levels in 128 children suffering from type 1 diabetes, all of whom were between 1.5 and 17.5 years of age.

 The scientists discovered that 61 percent of the children had insufficient vitamin D, and that 15 percent had a deficiency in vitamin D - a severely low level. Only the remaining 24 percent of the children had a satisfactory level of vitamin D. The oldest children displayed the lowest vitamin D levels. Among teenagers, fully 85 percent had insufficient amounts of the vitamin, Svoren noted.

"One of the things that might be going on is that, for a lot of children and adolescents, the primary source of vitamin D is through vitamin D-fortified milk,%u201D Svoren said."The problem is that a lot of teenagers with type 1 diabetes, rather than drinking milk, a lot of these individuals are probably drinking increased amounts of sugar-free colas." Svoren recommended that type 1 diabetes patients take a multivitamin and at least 400 IU of vitamin D per day.