New research from the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that having adequate blood levels of vitamin D during young adulthood could reduce the risk of adult-onset type 1 diabetes by as much as 50 percent, the Harvard Gazette reports.

“It is surprising that a serious disease such as type 1 diabetes could perhaps be prevented by a simple and safe intervention,” the lead author of the study, Kassandra Munger, told the Harvard Gazette.

Previous research has suggested a role for vitamin D in type 1 diabetes prevention but has focused on the impact of deficiency during pregnancy or childhood. This study analyzed samples from 8 million servicemen and –women and found that white, non-Hispanic, healthy young adults with vitamin D serum levels >75 nmol/ml had about half the risk of developing type 1 diabetes as those with levels <75 nmol/ml.

“The risk of type 1 diabetes appears to be increased even at vitamin D levels that are commonly regarded as normal, suggesting that a substantial proportion of the population could benefit from increased vitamin D intake,” Harvard School of Public Health Professor Alberto Ascherio, the study’s senior author, told the Gazette.

The Gazette article also notes that high vitamin D levels in young adults has previously been associated with decreased risk of multiple sclerosis, suggesting that vitamin D status may have an important impact on autoimmune diseases in general.

Click here to read the article from the Harvard Gazette.

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