Vitamin D prevents clogging of the arteries in diabetics
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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People with diabetes have an increased risk of clogging of blood vessels, which leads to heart disease. A study conducted by the University of Medicine School of Washington University, suggests that this is due to low levels of vitamin D in the body.
Scientists say that blood vessels are less likely to get stuck in diabetics who received a normal dose of vitamin D, whereas in patients with vitamin D deficiency, cholesterol was much more likely to cause blockage of blood vessels.
"To date, about 26 million Americans suffer from type 2 diabetes," says one of the leading researchers, Carlos Bernal-Mizrachi, "since the number of obese people is increasing, the number of diabetics is likely to increase. Predisposed to heart diseases caused by the clogging of blood vessels. "Therefore, we decided to find out the causes of this pattern."
Earlier, Bernal-Mizrachi and his colleagues have already discovered that vitamin D appears to have a strong influence on the heart and its health. Now, scientists have made a step forward by finding out that with a low level of vitamin D in the body, white blood cells of a certain type are more likely to linger near the walls of blood vessels, causing them to become clogged.
Vitamin D affects immune cells called macrophages. These macrophages begin to exist as white blood cells circulating in the blood, called monocytes. But when monocytes collide with inflammation, they become macrophages and cease to circulate.
To conduct the study, scientists selected 43 people with type 2 diabetes and 25 people of similar age, sex and weight, but without diabetes.
By adjusting for extraneous factors that could affect the results of the study, scientists found that in diabetics with a deficiency of vitamin D macrophages are more likely to linger on the walls of blood vessels, which leads to the accumulation of cholesterol in these areas and eventually causes clogging blocking the blood flow.
Now scientists begin the next stage of research. They have to find out if taking vitamin D can reduce the risk of developing atherosclerosis in diabetics.
The ultimate goal of scientists is to create a new drug that would effectively combat the clogging of blood vessels.