Washington [US], September 12 Morning India: Free, circulating vitamin D levels in the blood can help in understanding and predicting the future health risks in ageing men, according to a recent study.
It suggests the free, precursor form of vitamin D found circulating in the bloodstream is a more accurate predictor of future health and disease risk, than the often measured total vitamin D. Since vitamin D deficiency is associated with multiple serious health conditions as we get older, this study suggests that further investigation into vitamin D levels and their link to poor health may be a promising area for further research.
Vitamin D deficiency is common in Europe, especially in elderly people. It has been associated with a higher risk for developing many ageing-related diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis.
However, there are several forms, or metabolites, of vitamin D in the body but it is the total amount of these metabolites that are most often used to assess the vitamin D status of people.
The prohormone, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D is converted to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, which is considered the active form of vitamin D in our body. More than 99 per cent of all vitamin D metabolites in our blood is bound to proteins, so only a very small fraction is free to be biologically active. Therefore, the free, active forms may be a better predictor of current and future health.
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