Parkinson’s disease: Review of low-dose vitamin D RCTs found small benefit

Vitamin D in Parkinson’s disease: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

Clinical Nutrition Open Science Available online 28 September 2023 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nutos.2023.09.005

Paraskevi Detopoulou 1 3, Gavriela Voulgaridou 2, Alexandra Saridaki 1 3, Ioanna Pylarinou 3, Elissaios- Minos Argyris 1, Vasilios Dedes 3, Constantinos Giaginis 4, Georgios I. Panoutsopoulos 3, Sousana K. Papadopoulou 2

In recent years, neurodegenerative diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and disability worldwide, with Parkinson's disease (PD) being the most prevalent. Although diet and vitamin status play a crucial role in PD, the results of vitamin D supplementation are scarce and contradictory. Therefore, the present systematic work reviewed the available randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding the role of vitamin D supplementation in patients with PD in the Pubmed, Scopus and Cochrane databases and in grey literature. Four RCTs including 321 patients with PD were identified. Various doses of vitamin D were administered (1,000- 10,000 IU/d) and different exposure outcomes were assessed. One study reported beneficial effects of vitamin D on the Hoehn and Yahr scale (HY) and two studies reported null effects on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Regarding functional tests, heterogeneous results in the timed-up and go (TUG) test were observed in two studies. One study conducted minute walking tests at 6 and 10 minutes and found an improvement only in the 6MWT. In conclusion, a very small number of RCTs have assessed the effects of vitamin D supplementation on PD. Some isolated beneficial effects of vitamin D were reported on functional scales and tests but more studies are needed to draw safe conclusions regarding its supplementation in PD.

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