Low vitamin D associated with dementia

[NHE]

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-28674158

Older people who have a severe vitamin D deficiency have an increased risk of developing dementia, a study has suggested.

The international team of researchers, led by Dr David Llewellyn at the University of Exeter Medical School, followed people for six years.

All were free from dementia, cardiovascular disease and stroke at the start of the study.

At the end of the study they found the 1,169 with good levels of vitamin D had a one in 10 chance of developing dementia. Seventy were severely deficient - and they had around a one in five risk of dementia.

Dr Llewellyn said: "We expected to find an association between low vitamin D levels and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, but the results were surprising - we actually found that the association was twice as strong as we anticipated."