What is vitamin d?

An RCT giving 800 IU of vitamin D daily to Alzheimer's patients found a reduction in amyloid beta plaque burden.

“In that study it was a randomized control trial in people that were giving an 800 IUs of vitamin D a day. People that already had Alzheimer's disease. It lowered their amaloid beta plaque burden.”

Vitamin D's broad biological reach is explained by the fact that it controls roughly 5% of the entire protein-encoding human genome, making deficiency a systemic problem rather than a narrow one.

“We know that vitamin D controls about 5% of the protein-encoding human genome.”

Vitamin D supplementation is associated with a 40% lower risk of dementia over a decade, per a new study.

“A new study found that vitamin D supplementation was associated with a 40% lower risk of dementia over a decade.”

Rhonda Patrick on the dementia risk reduction associated with vitamin D supplementation over ten years.

“A new study found that vitamin D supplementation was associated with a 40% lower risk of dementia over a decade.”

Genetically low vitamin D levels causally raise all-cause mortality per Mendelian randomization, countering the view that the vitamin D-mortality link is merely observational confounding.

“People with those genes, their they have genetically low levels of vitamin D, they have a higher all-cause mortality than people that don't have those genes.”

Genetically low vitamin D levels (a Mendelian randomization signal) are linked to up to a 54% increase in dementia risk.

“Genetically low vitamin D levels increase dementia risk by up to 54%.”

People with mild cognitive impairment who skipped vitamin D supplementation had more than 600% higher dementia risk than cognitively normal non-supplementers.

“Participants with mild cognitive impairment who didn't supplement with vitamin D had more than a 600% increase in dementia risk compared to the adults with normal cognitive function even those who didn't use vitamin D.”

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with up to 3 years of epigenetic age acceleration, but supplementation at 2000 IU vs 800 IU in already-sufficient adults showed no clock effect.

“Showing that vitamin D deficiency causes age acceleration in some cases severe like 3 years.”

Omega-3 supplementation was the only intervention to slow epigenetic aging in a study that also included vitamin D and resistance training in already-active, vitamin-D-sufficient individuals.

“Only the omega-3 was able to slow epigenetic aging.”

A 70-year-old produces four times less vitamin D from sun exposure than a 20-year-old, highlighting why older adults are especially deficient.

“A 70-year-old makes four times less vitamin D from the sun than a 20-year-old.”