Intake of vitamin D and risk of type 1 diabetes: a birth-cohort study.
Hyppönen E, Läärä E, Reunanen A, Järvelin MR, Virtanen SM.
Lancet. 2001 Nov 3;358(9292):1500-3.
PMID: 11705562
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(01)06580-1
INTERPRETATION: Dietary vitamin D supplementation is associated with reduced risk of type 1 diabetes. Ensuring adequate vitamin D supplementation for infants could help to reverse the increasing trend in the incidence of type 1 diabetes.
Vitamin D status and glucose homeostasis in the 1958 British birth cohort: the role of obesity.
Hyppönen E, Power C.
Diabetes Care. 2006 Oct;29(10):2244-6.
PMID: 17003300
doi: 10.2337/dc06-0946
CONCLUSIONS-Body size was a strong determinant for 25(OH)D, with concentrations being suboptimal in most obese participants. Randomized controlled trials [using dosages sufficient to improve 25(OH)D also for the obese] are required to determine whether clinically relevant improvements in glucose metabolism can be obtained by vitamin D supplementation.
Vitamin D supplementation during the first year of life and risk of schizophrenia: a Finnish birth cohort study.
McGrath J, Saari K, Hakko H, Jokelainen J, Jones P, Järvelin MR, Chant D, Isohanni M.
Schizophr Res. 2004 Apr 1;67(2-3):237-45.
PMID: 14984883
Conclusion: Vitamin D supplementation during the first year of life is associated with a reduced risk of schizophrenia in males. Preventing hypovitaminosis D during early life may reduce the incidence of schizophrenia.
Hypovitaminosis D in British adults at age 45 y: nationwide cohort study of dietary and lifestyle predictors.
Hyppönen E, Power C.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Mar;85(3):860-8.
PMID: 17344510
Conclusion: Prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in the general population was alarmingly high during the winter and spring, which warrants action at a population level rather than at a risk group level.
Data from the 1958 birth cohort suggest that, at different cutoffs for hypovitaminosis D, a substantial public health problem exists in British whites. Obese participants and those living in Scotland were at the highest risk of hypovitaminosis D. However, the prevalence in the general population was very high during the winter and spring, which suggests that, to improve the situation, action is required at a population level rather than at a risk-group level. In the United States, calls have gone out for an increase in vitamin D fortification of foods (11), and the data from the current study suggest that such action is also warranted in the United Kingdom. Vitamin D is currently available without prescription as a dietary supplement only as part of cod liver oil or multivitamin products; hence, a need clearly exists to consider increased availability of over-the-counter supplements. Hypovitaminosis D has been implicated in the development of serious conditions, including diabetes, various types of cancer, and cardiovascular diseases, in addition to its essential role in maintaining bone health (1, 2). The high rates of hypovitaminosis D reported in this study suggest that immediate action is needed to improve the vitamin D status of the British population.
To conclude, our findings suggest an association between large-dose vitamin D supplementation in infancy and an increased risk of atopy, allergic rhinitis, and asthma later in life. Further study is required to determine whether these observations could imply that vitamin D supplementation in infancy may have long-term effects on immune regulation, or if they reflect some unmeasured determinants of vitamin D supplementation
Infant vitamin d supplementation and allergic conditions in adulthood: northern Finland birth cohort 1966.
Hyppönen E, Sovio U, Wjst M, Patel S, Pekkanen J, Hartikainen AL, Järvelinb MR.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2004 Dec;1037:84-95.
DOI: 10.1196/annals.1337.013
PMID: 15699498
Infant vitamin d supplementation and allergic conditions in adulthood: northern Finland birth cohort 1966.
Hyppönen E, Sovio U, Wjst M, Patel S, Pekkanen J, Hartikainen AL, Järvelinb MR.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2004 Dec;1037:84-95.
PMID: 15699498
25-hydroxyvitamin D, IGF-1, and metabolic syndrome at 45 years of age: a cross-sectional study in the 1958 British Birth Cohort.
Hyppönen E, Boucher BJ, Berry DJ, Power C.
Diabetes. 2008 Feb;57(2):298-305. Epub 2007 Nov 14.
PMID: 18003755
doi: 10.2337/db07-1122
CONCLUSIONS-Serum 25(OH)D is inversely associated with metabolic syndrome, whereas the inverse association with IGF-1 was found only among those without hypovitaminosis D. These results suggest that metabolic syndrome prevalence is the lowest when both 25(OH)D and IGF-1 are high.
"The results of the uniquely-constructed ERA JUMP Study were just released, a fascinating study of the relationship of omega-3 fatty acids to coronary and carotid plaque.
The study adds insight into why the Japanese experience only one third of the heart attacks of Americans, and why Japan occupies the bottom of the list for least heart attacks among all developed countries.
The Electron-Beam Tomography, Risk Factor Assessment Among Japanese and U.S. Men in the Post-World War II Birth Cohort Study (ERA JUMP), a collaborative U.S.-Japanese effort, compared three groups of men:
-- 281 Japanese men living in Japan
-- 306 non-Japanese men living in the U.S. (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
-- 303 Japanese Americans (having both parents Japanese without "ethnic admixture") living in Hawaii.
The last group represents a group that is genetically similar to the group in Japan, but exposed to an American diet and lifestyle.
Three main measures were compared:
-- Blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA)
-- Carotid intimal-medial thickness (CIMT, the thickness of the carotid artery lining that can serve as an index of body-wide atherosclerosis)
-- Coronary calcium (heart scan) scores."
Marine-derived n-3 fatty acids and atherosclerosis in Japanese, Japanese-American, and white men: a cross-sectional study.
Sekikawa A, Curb JD, Ueshima H, El-Saed A, Kadowaki T, Abbott RD, Evans RW, Rodriguez BL, Okamura T, Sutton-Tyrrell K, Nakamura Y, Masaki K, Edmundowicz D, Kashiwagi A, Willcox BJ, Takamiya T, Mitsunami K, Seto TB, Murata K, White RL, Kuller LH; ERA JUMP (Electron-Beam Tomography, Risk Factor Assessment Among Japanese and U.S. Men in the Post-World War II Birth Cohort) Study Group.
J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008 Aug 5;52(6):417-24.
PMID: 18672160
Conclusions
Very high levels of marine-derived n-3 FAs have anti-atherogenic properties independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and may contribute to lower burden of atherosclerosis in Japanese in Japan, which is unlikely due to genetic factors.
July 29, 2008 - The low rate of atherosclerosis and heart disease in Japanese people may be related to their very high levels of marine-derived omega-3 fatty acids rather than genetic factors, a new study suggests [1].
The study, known as Electron-Beam Tomography, Risk Factor Assessment Among Japanese and US Men in the Post-World War II Birth Cohort (ERA JUMP) included 868 randomly selected men aged 40 to 49. Of these, 281 were Japanese men living in Japan; 306 were white men living in the US, and 281 were third- or fourth-generation Japanese American men from Hawaii. All study participants had a physical examination, completed a lifestyle questionnaire, and had blood tests to measure cholesterol levels and levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Atherosclerosis was assessed by measuring carotid intima-medial thickness (IMT) and coronary artery calcification (CAC).
Results showed that the Japanese men had the lowest levels of atherosclerosis, whereas whites and Japanese Americans had similar higher levels. The Japanese men also had twofold higher levels of marine-derived omega-3 fatty acids than white and Japanese Americans.
The study, published in the August 5, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (available online July 28), was conducted by a group led by Dr Akira Sekikawa (University of Pittsburgh, PA, and Shiga University of Medical Science, Japan).
They found that compared with white or Japanese American men living in the US, Japanese men living in Japan had twice the blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids - a finding that was independently linked to low levels of atherosclerosis.
Intima-media thickness of the carotid artery and the distribution of lipoprotein subclasses in men aged 40 to 49 years between whites in the United States and the Japanese in Japan for the ERA JUMP study.
Sekikawa A, Ueshima H, Sutton-Tyrrell K, Kadowaki T, El-Saed A, Okamura T, Takamiya T, Ueno Y, Evans RW, Nakamura Y, Edmundowicz D, Kashiwagi A, Maegawa H, Kuller LH.
Metabolism. 2008 Feb;57(2):177-82.
PMID: 18191046
doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2007.08.022.
In men in the post World War II birth cohort, i.e., men aged 40-49, whites in the United States (U.S.) had significantly higher levels of intima-media thickness of the carotid arteries (IMT) than the Japanese in Japan.
The whites had significantly higher levels of large very-low-density-lipoprotein particles and significantly lower levels of large high-density-lipoprotein particles than the Japanese, whereas the two populations had similar levels of small low-density-lipoprotein particles. The two populations had similar associations of IMT with NMR lipoproteins. Adjusting for NMR lipoproteins did not attenuate the significant difference in IMT between the two populations (0.671 ± 0.006 for the whites and 0.618 ± 0.006 mm for the Japanese, P=0.01, mean (standard error)). Differences in the distributions of NMR lipoproteins between the two populations did not explain the higher IMT in the whites.