Consistent ethnic specific differences in diabetes risk and vitamin D status in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.
J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2015 Sep 16. pii: S0960-0760(15)30083-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2015.09.023. []Epub ahead of print]
Christensen MH 1, Scragg RK 2.
1 Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
2 School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. r.scragg at auckland.ac.nz
Risk of diabetes (from NHANES surveys)
| Whites | Hispanics | Blacks | |
| High D vs Low D | 0.28 | 0.13 | 1.54 |
Wonder about all of the other races around the world
See also VitaminDWiki
- Increased risk of multiple sclerosis risk in African Americans due to genes – June 2013
- Race vs vitamin D level - Veith May 2011
- Overview Dark Skin and Vitamin D
- Bioavailable Vitamin D is the same blacks and whites, but measured vit D is not – Oct 2014
Note - the study on this page is concerned with MEASURED, not BIOAVAILABLE vitamin D - Diabetes (Type 1) 14X more likely in dark skin children with low levels of vitamin D – May 2015
Seems like the opposite conclusion to the study on this page - Blacks have 4X more Kidney disease than whites – probably due to low vitamin D – March 2015
The articles in Diabetes and Darker Skin are here:
- T1 Diabetes 6.5 X more likely in South African Blacks if poor Vitamin D Binding Protein – July 2022
- 26 health factors increase the risk of COVID-19 – all are proxies for low vitamin D
- Children in India – 1 in 7 extremely low Vitamin D, 1 in 10 prediabetic – Sept 2019
- Blacks die more often than whites of many diseases (they have less vitamin D) – 2012
- Diabetic blacks – 80 percent had low vitamin D (less than 20 ng) a decade before – Sept 2017
- Diabetes is associated with low vitamin D in various races, but not blacks – Sept 2015
- Diabetes (Type 1) 14X more likely in dark skin children with low levels of vitamin D – May 2015
- Obese diabetics with dark skins not benefit from 6,000 IU of vitamin D daily (no surprise) – RCT March 2015
- Diabetic glycation control is inversely related to Vitamin D in India – Feb 2015
- Type I diabetes in dark skin children associated with low vitamin D if far from equator – Jan 2015
- Dr. Holick video on vitamin D - March 2013
- African-Americans at high risk of obesity and diabetes - 2011
- Type 1 Diabetes associated with low vitamin D, especially in dark skinned youths – Dec 2012
- Hyperglycemia in black veterans is associated with low vitamin D – Nov 2012
- Diabetics with darker skin were more vitamin D deficient – May 2012
- Low vitamin D associated with obesity-related diseases for ethnic minorities – Sept 2011
- 97 percent of Native American children have less than 30 ng of vitamin D – Oct 2011
- Diabetic neuropathy and low vitamin D, especially in blacks - July 2011
- Studies linked low vitamin D and dark skin to Obesity, Diabetes, and heart – June 2011
- Not yet certain that vitamin D reduces cardiovascular and diabetes in blacks – Mar 2011
- Diabetes Statistics including more diabetes with darker skin – 2007
- Insulin resistance correlated with low vitamin D levels in Arab Americans – June 2010
- Insulin sensitivity associated with Vit D in A-A April 2010
- Vitamin D deficiency and insulin insensitivity in African Americans - 2010
Highlights
• Vitamin D status not associated with diabetes in blacks, but is in non-blacks.
• Confirms previous results from earlier US surveys.
• Consistency suggests this is unlikely due to chance.
•Suggests a covariate maybe modifying association between vitamin D and diabetes.
•Covariate maybe absent or reduced in non-Hispanic blacks.
Previous findings from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), a representative sample of the US population carried out in 1988-1994, showed an inverse association between diabetes risk and serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) in non-Hispanic whites and Mexican-Americans but not in non-Hispanic blacks. The study aim was to determine if this same pattern in ethnic variation occurred in more recent NHANES surveys. Cross-sectional data came from the NHANES carried out from 1988 to 1994 (NHANES III) and from 2001 to 2006 (NHANES 01-06). The analysis included 11,331 people (5641 non-Hispanic white, 2714 non-Hispanic black and 2976 Mexican American) without known diabetes mellitus, fasting for ≥8 hours and aged ≥20 years, with available measurements of 25(OH)D, fasting glucose, fasting insulin and body mass index (BMI). Adjusting for age, gender, BMI, leisure time physical activity and season, higher levels of 25(OH)D were associated with decreased fasting glucose, decreased fasting insulin, and decreased diabetes risk in both non-Hispanic whites and Mexican Americans for both surveys and when combined.
When combining NHANES III and NHANES 01-06 the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for having diabetes was 0.28 (0.19, 0.41) in the highest 25(OH)D quartile compared to the lowest quartile in non-Hispanic whites, and 0.13 (0.06, 0.28) in Mexican Americans (both p<0.0001); but 1.54 (0.62, 3.82) in non-Hispanic blacks, among whom 25(OH)D was not associated with fasting glucose, fasting insulin, or diabetes risk (p>0.05). There was a significant interaction between non-Hispanic whites and Mexican Americans combined, compared with non-Hispanic blacks, when 25(OH)D was regressed against fasting glucose (p=0.016) but not against fasting insulin (p>0.05). The major finding in both NHANES surveys of consistent inverse associations between serum 25(OH)D concentrations and diabetes risk in non-Hispanic whites and Mexican Americans, but not in non-Hispanic blacks, suggests this finding is unlikely due to chance.
PMID: 26386461