When it comes to protecting, managing, and regaining overall health, Vitamin D has proven to be most effective. The naturally occurring, sun-derived Vitamin D provides proactive defense against most common lifestyle diseases. Its relation to diabetes and bone-health is discussed in the research excerpt provided below.

Vitamin D has hormonal action on various tissues and organs and its functions have been intensively reassessed with the discovery of the vitamin D receptor in most cells of the human body. The effects of vitamin D on bone metabolism are the best established. Besides increasing the circulating levels of calcium and phosphorus and promoting the mineralization process, this vitamin controls osteoblast and osteoclast function/differentiation and promotes bone formation, possibly by mechanisms to combat parathyroid hormone hypersecretion. These effects are evident in most intervention studies, especially in those that have evaluated the effects of vitamin doses equal to or higher than 800 IU/day on bone mineral density and that include calcium. Individual characteristics influence the response to the vitamin, such as the presence of obesity, which can increase the vitamin D demand, and the type of polymorphism of the vitamin D receptor. However, the use of megadoses of vitamin D with large intervals between administrations should be avoided, as they impair bone health.

Vitamin D seems to contribute to obesity and type 2 diabetes control by several mechanisms, including the regulation of adipogenesis during adipocyte differentiation, the stimulation of insulin synthesis and protection of pancreatic β-cells, and reducing insulin resistance in muscles. This vitamin may also contribute indirectly to combat these diseases through its action on bone tissue and the immune system, which liberates mediators that influence body weight gain and the inflammatory state.

Source: “Vitamin D: Link between Osteoporosis, Obesity, and Diabetes?” By Flávia Galvão Cândido and Josefina Bressan. International Journal of Molecular Science. doi:10.3390/ijms15046569