Vitamin D deficiency diseases in dark skinned people living far from equator – Meta-analysis Oct 2013

Population groups in dietary transition.

Food Nutr Res. 2013 Oct 3;57. doi: 10.3402/fnr.v57i0.21668.
Wändell PE.
Centre for Family Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the effects of dietary acculturation in minority groups in the Nordic countries, including immigrants from non-Western societies.

METHODS: A search was performed in Medlin33e/PubMed and SweMed+ for articles published in 1990-2011.

RESULTS: A total of 840 articles were identified, with a final 32 articles used to tabulate results which were included in the primary analysis.

High rates of vitamin D deficiency (23 articles) were found in immigrants of non-Western origin; deficiency rates were very high among both pregnant and non-pregnant women, and also among children, with young children of immigrant parents showing 50 times higher risk for rickets when compared to children of indigenous parents.

The risk of iron deficiency (two articles) was high among immigrant women, while the results were inconclusive regarding children.

High rates of dental caries (seven articles) were found among pre-school and younger school children of immigrant origin, while the risk of caries was not as evident among older children.

In a secondary analysis, including 48 articles (results not tabulated), overweight and obesity (14 articles) were seen in many immigrant groups,
resulting in a

• high prevalence of diabetes (2 review articles from a total of 14 original articles) and
• incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD; seven articles).

For hypertension (three articles), dyslipidemia (four articles), and dietary patterns among immigrants (10 articles), the results were contradictory.

CONCLUSIONS: Risk of vitamin D deficiency is alarmingly high in the Nordic countries among immigrants of non-Western origin, especially among women. Dental caries is high among immigrant children aged 0-7 years due to a higher intake of sugary products. Overweight and obesity, associated with a higher risk of diabetes and CHD, are prevalent in many immigrant groups and need further attention.

KEYWORDS: Ethnic groups, cardiovascular diseases, dental caries, diabetes, obesity, vitamin D deficiency

PMID: 24106456

Approx 10% of Nordic population are minorities

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PDF is attached at the bottom of this page

This study greatly understates the problem :

1. Vitamin D deficiency has gotten significantly worse during and after the study. It is not a constant
2. Does not appear to look at descendants or intermarriage, just immigrants
3. Does not consider the darkness of skin, just country of origin - including Nordic countries as well as Europe
   What about those immegrants who become citizens?
4. Does not consider what % of their life has been in Nordic countries
   many of these diseases (e.g. cardiovascular, diabetes, obesity) take decades to develop
5. Does not consider many other diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency (see below)

See also VitaminDWiki - many diseases not mentioned in the study above

• Overview Dark Skin and Vitamin D
• Most immigrant women in Sweden had little vitamin D and lots of muscle pain – May 2013
• Dark Skinned adults need more than 45 minutes of UK summer sun daily – June 2013
• Dark skin pregnancies and Vitamin D - many studies
• Sleep disorder and nonspecific pain implies low vitamin D, especially if dark skin – March 2013
• IBD in Finland – 3X increase in 15 years, more prevalent further from equator – Nov 2012
• Dark skinned pregnant women far from equator were very vitamin D deficient – Sept 2012
• Race vs vitamin D level - Veith May 2011
• Schizophrenia high and increasing in Canada – lower vitamin D and more dark skin – Feb 2013
• Immigrants and refugees had lower vitamin D levels – Jan 2013
• Autism more frequent from mothers who are dark skinned or veiled – Jan 2011
• First and 2nd generation migrants 2X more likely to have psychotic disorders – Jan 2013
• On the aetiology of autism - Cannell May 2010
  Somali immigrants in Sweden call autism the ‘Swedish disease’
• Overview of Rickets and Vitamin D
  Rate of rickets is usually < 0.1% of births, unless dark skin or breastfed (note: 0.1% X 50 = 5% rickets)
• Rickets reduced 60X - lessons learned by Turkey 2011 Nordic countries should learn to GIVE vitamin D to all children with dark skin
• All items in category Dark Skin and Vitamin D 464 items
• All items in category Far from equator and Vitamin D 124 items