Type 2 diabetes is considered a true health emergency because of the growing number of cases. It is the diabetes of the adults characterized by an increase in blood sugar levels induced by a lower production of insulin or a condition where insulin doesn’t act in an efficient way. Type 2 diabetes may be caused by a sedentary lifestyle, overweight and wrong food choices, all habits that, luckily, may be corrected. And another piece of news about the topic has been added very recently. According to a study published on the online journal Menopause of The North American Menopause Society by a team of the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil (Valladares et al, Menopause, Jan 2019), vitamin D is able to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The study has analyzed the habits of about 700 Brazilian women, aged 35 to 74 years, by measuring their serum levels of vitamin D and the blood sugar. The scientists have observed that low values of vitamin D are connected to higher blood sugar levels while higher values of vitamin D in blood, obtained through supplements or habitual exposure to sun, are linked to lower levels of blood sugar. Supplements and sunbathing have shown the same protective effect. Other studies are required to understand in detail the mechanisms but for sure this first result is really interesting and promising because it let we know that thanks to very simple actions that everybody can perform, the sunbathing or vitamin D-based supplements, you can get great benefits, not just for mood and bones, according to the state of the art of the researches, but also to counteract type 2 diabetes. However, you should always be careful and sunbathe with all the attentions because too much sun, and in the wrong hours, may be dangerous.
