Alzheimer's and Dementia: WHICAP queue studies show that vitamin D intake is associated with dementia risk.

Vitamin D deficiency is common in the general population and in the elderly, but is often not recognized.
vitamin D deficiency is a potentially preventable risk factor for dementia.
vitamin D may be a risk factor for cognitive impairment and subsequent dementia through a variety of potential mechanisms.
of vitamin D is distributed throughout the brain, evidence of immunogroupization suggests that vitamin D is confined to the nuclei, suggesting that vitamin D has 'neurosteroid' side secretion/self-secretion function.
vitamin D plays a wide range of protective roles on the central nervous system by regulating neurotrophic factors, inducing the removal of amyloid beta (A beta), maintaining calcium balance, regulating oxidative stress, and regulating immune response.
epidemiological studies have consistently found that low vitamin D levels in the circulatory system are associated with an increased risk of dementia.
there is some evidence that higher vitamin D intake is associated with reduced risk of dementia or better cognitive abilities.
many of the study's participants were mainly white, which may limit the generality of their conclusions.
a recent study in a multi-ethnic group found that people with lower serum vitamin D levels experienced faster cognitive decline.
, however, there was no dietary intake data for the study.
To address the limitations of previous studies, researchers recently published a study in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia, based on a multi-ethnic, community-based queue in north Manhattan, the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP), which aims to determine whether there is a link between vitamin D intake and dementia.
researchers conducted a longitudinal study of 1,759 non-dementia elderly people (65 years old) in the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP) and followed them up to fill out a food frequency questionnaire.
the study used the Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) standard of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to provide a consensus diagnosis of dementia.
researchers used Cox risk regression to analyze the data.
in this group, age, APOE-4 status, physical activity, MeDI scores, depression, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease did not differ among the various stratums of total vitamin D intake.
total vitamin D intake does vary by sex, race/ethnicity, education, income, smoking and diabetes.
with the highest total vitamin D intake tended to be female, white, highly educated, non-smoking, and healthier overall diet (with a higher MeDI score).
had a larger proportion of participants with diabetes in the median vitamin D intake.
vitamin D intake was analyzed only from food sources, and there was no difference in age, sex, APOE-4 status, physical activity, depression, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease among the various components of vitamin D intake without supplementation.
levels of vitamin D intake do vary by race/ethnicity, education, MeDI score, income, and smoking.
the people who consumed the most vitamin D from food tended to be non-blacks, who were more educated, had higher incomes, did not smoke, and ate a healthier diet overall (with a higher MeDI score).
329 participants developed dementia during an average of 5.8 years of follow-up.
Vitamin D intake from food after adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, education level, lipoprotein E (APOE)-4, physical activity, Mediterranean diet (MeDI) score, income, depression, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and smoking The largest number of participants had a lower risk of developing dementia than the least of the participants (the risk was 0.72, 95% confidence interval of 0.54-0.97, P,0.030).
, the study showed that higher vitamin D intake was associated with a reduced risk of dementia in a multi-ethnic group.
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