Vitamin D for the win! Vitamin D lowered the risk of pre-diabetes progressing to full diabetes by 15% in people taking cholecalciferol just 20,000 IU per week (4,000 IU daily). Or eldecalcitol 0.75 mcg daily.
Targeting a level of 50-74 nmol/L (20-29 ng/ml), reduced the Diabetes 76% with an absolute risk reduction at 3 years of a whopping 18.1%! This is a much higher target than people expect. The dose of Vitamin D, usually as cholecalciferol is the sticking point.
Most people don’t know their Vitamin D level, but it’s easily checked. Dosing the replacement is important so that levels are in the target zone: not low and not too high. Vitamin D is a critical part of tackling pre-diabetes along with nutrition, exercise, and sleep health. Using a multi-prong approach maximizes the treatment and reversal.
The best part, Vitamin D is included in my plan! Since Vitamin D is fat-soluble, it can be taken weekly or intermittently, instead of daily.
Anastassios G. Pittas, Tetsuya Kawahara, Rolf Jorde, et al. Vitamin D and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes in People With Prediabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Individual Participant Data From 3 Randomized Clinical Trials. Ann Intern Med.2023; 176:355-363. [Epub 7 February 2023].doi:10.7326/M22-3018
