The relationship between balance control and vitamin D in Parkinson's disease-a pilot study.

Mov Disord. 2013 Jul;28(8):1133-7. doi: 10.1002/mds.25405. Epub 2013 Apr 2.
Peterson AL1, Mancini M, Horak FB.

BACKGROUND:
Balance problems and falls are a major source of morbidity and mortality in patients with Parkinson's disease.
Vitamin D supplementation reduces falls and sway in neurologically intact elderly fallers, but effects in Parkinson's disease are not established.

METHODS:
To study this relationship and select outcome measures for a vitamin D intervention study, balance function and vitamin D concentration were quantified in a series of Parkinson's patients in a cross-sectional, observational study. Participants underwent a battery of 5 balance tests.

RESULTS:
Serum vitamin D concentrations were correlated inversely with Parkinson's severity, as measured by the motor Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. Among the balance measures, vitamin D concentrations were correlated with automatic posture responses to backwards translation, specifically with response strength and stance weight asymmetry.

CONCLUSIONS:
These findings support the hypothesis that vitamin D plays a role in balance among patients with Parkinson's disease and identify specific outcome measures for detecting effects of vitamin D upon balance.

PMID: 23554003

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See also VitaminDWiki

• Parkinson’s Disease relationship to Vitamin D
• Seniors with adequate vitamin D could rebalance themselves 80% faster, and thus not fall as often – 2013
• Seniors with less than 12 ng of vitamin D were not stable – March 2012
• Vitamin D and Muscles – Major review: Feb 2013
• Overview Parkinsons and Vitamin D contains the following summary

Parkinson's Disease proven to be TREATED by Vitamin D (Many Meta-analyses of trials)

• Parkinson's disease stabilized with just 1200 IU of vitamin D – RCT May 2013
  First RCT to report results - +anticipate far better results when more vitamin D is used.
     (Belief based on the results with vitamin D on MS and Diabetes)
  Additonal proofs that vitamin D treats or prevents diseases
• 6 clinical trials for PD with vitamin D intervention as of Jan 2016
  A person could wait a few years to get the results of the clinical trials, but
• Based on reading more than 4,000 studies of vitamin D at VitaminDWiki
• A (loading) dose of 20,000 IU of vitamin D daily for the 3 weeks should provide observable benefit
  To avoid a rare reaction to Vitamin D
  take 1,000 IU of vitamin D first, and stop if you you have an allergic reaction withiin 3 days
  When continuing to take vitamin D you should also take cofactors
  There is virtually no need have a vitamin D test in first 2 months
•    Parkinson;s category has 78 items