Recent studies conducted by the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta found a majority of patients who suffer from Parkinson’s disease also suffered from vitamin D deficiency.
Published in the October 2008 issue of the Archives of Neurology, the researchers studied a group of patients with Parkinson’s, a group with Alzheimer’s and a group of control subjects with no ailments. The fraction of Parkinson's patients with vitamin D insufficiency was 55 percent—significantly more than patients with Alzheimer's disease (41 percent) and the control subjects (36 percent).
According to study authors, the finding adds to evidence that low vitamin D is associated with Parkinson's. Researchers speculate that the connection could be due to the fact that patients with Parkinson's have mobility problems and, therefore, are not usually exposed to the sun, or because low vitamin D levels are in some way related to the genesis or progression of the disease.
Source: ScienceDaily.com, “Lack Of Vitamin D Linked To Parkinson’s Disesase”
