Does Vit. D potentiate insulin?

[lmaz]

I'm a Type 1 diabetic, on a low dose of insulin, who also had Vitamin D deficiency. As I started supplementing Vit D, and my blood level became higher, I have needed less insulin (after being on the same dose for 20 yrs).
Does Vit. D make insulin more potent? Does D make the insulin receptors more sensitive to insulin? Could the Vit D be prompting the beta cells to make their own insulin?
Have any Type 1's had this same experience, where they were low in D, but as they ingested D and their D level got higher, they needed less insulin? Thanks - Les

[patricia52]

I don't know but I try to get my sunshine vitamin naturally. I have been tanning so maybe that is why my BG has been better. I will watch to see if it improve after tanning.

[foxl]

No but there is a LOT of info on Vit D in T1 and T2

How much are you taking ... ? It IS involved in IR ... could indeed be what you are seeing. Were you tested as deficient, before starting?

[CountYourselfIn]

Hate to throw a cliche at you, but chromium supplements have also been known to increase the potency of insulin.

It's very hit or miss, not everyone finds that it works, and there's not a lot of available research on it.

RE vit D, I started taking it a month ago or so, and have had some drops in my insulin needs, and I can't say if it was the D or not. I do feel much better for taking it, tho.

[viranth]

How much vitamin D daily are we talking here?

[eyodir]

The multivitamin I take has 250% daily dose of Vitamin D (1000 IU). I've been taking it before I was diagnosed, so I couldn't say it's doing anything to my levels. I do know Vitamin D does some razzmatazz to your immune system aside from all the calcium/bone magic it works, so there's probably something it's doing for type 1s.

I've read a study or two about a correlation between getting a lot of vitamin d may prevent onset of type 1, but from personal experience I'd say this D isn't a big a factor as folks might be making it out to be. I mean, since I was 5 I've been drinking 3/4ths a gallon of milk a day, not counting being out in the sun, so I've never had a deficiency and yet here I stand, with this here di-ah-bee-tuhs.

[CountYourselfIn]

Since posting, I've been digging around.

Diabetes Update: Vitamin D lowers Insulin Resistance (http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/2007/10/vitamin-d-lowers-insuiln-resistance.html)

She quotes some interesting studies, and the comments are good too.

Make sure to check out the links in her story.

A Finnish study following over 12,000 babies born in 1966 found those who were given the recommended amounts of vitamin D supplement had an 80% reduced risk of developing diabetes.

Many Americans do not get enough vitamin D or calcium, they note, and supplementing people's diets with the nutrients would be an easy, inexpensive way to prevent or treat type 2 diabetes.

[Beckernj]

hmm....this got my curious, I take a multivitamin 1 a day mens, I have not gotten a low in forever and lately it seems everyday since I started taking the vitamins again.....Ill post if I find a connection at all.

[lmaz]

Yes, I have read the studies linking D deficiency to development of Type 1, but couldn't find much on if D deficiency affects insulin levels, or insulin sensitivity, once a person has diabetes. (I think I also read studies on linkage between D and the development of Type 2)
I do not take a lot of D. In the beginning of my supplementing with D, I could not take a lot - just a sprinkle out of a 400 IU cap - and had to increase it very slowly, due to really bad symptoms if too much was taken (extreme fatigue, muscle pain, problems breathing, tachycardia = I am assuming this was due to my body being so low in D, for so long, that it found it hard to tolerate much of it)
Over time, I have increased my D to 400-500 IU = still not a lot. Yet my D blood level is at least reaching the low end of the lab range, whereas before, it was one third of the low range.
I know D interrelates to the immune system, but am unclear as to how exactly this would translate to possibly regenerating islet cells (If D stimulates the immune system, then wouldn't it increase the autoimmune response, thereby decreasing any islet cell activity because the immune system would kill them?)
I do have ICA, and insulin antibodies, and GAD antibodies, so I don't know how I could be making endogenous insulin.
Maybe the D makes my cells more sensitive to insulin, altho I thought that insulin resistance wasn't an issue with Type 1's. (Even when I spend fifteen mins in the sun, I have bad insulin reactions for days later - maybe due to D sythesis by the body?)
Yes, I do know that chromium is supposed to decrease insulin requirements, or potentiate insulin, thank you - Les PS: I think most milk nowadays has D2 in it, not D3 (altho I think non-processed milk naturally has D3), and as such, the D2 milk would not provide a lot of D activity?

[zelack]

This is interesting. When I was a baby, I was so anemic that I was literally days away from needing a blood transfusion. While I'm still slightly anemic, the worst of it was countered by a strong dose of iron and vitamin D. I was diagnosed at nine pretty out-of-the-blue because, aside from that, I was really healthy.