Vitamin D deficiency is more common in Parkinson’s patients than normal and Alzheimer’s patients, US researchers find

US researchers found insufficient levels of vitamin D in 55 percent Parkinson’s patients, while these levels were 36 percent in healthy elderly people. Now the scientists are trying to know that the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can be eased with vitamin D supplements.

The researchers from Emory University do not find yet whether vitamin D deficiency is a cause of developing Parkinson’s or not.

The study has been published in the journal Archives of Neurology.

Due to Parkinson’s nerve cells gets affected in many parts of the mind and especially in those parts that use dopamine (chemical messenger) to control movement.Stiffness, tremor and slowness of movement are some common symptoms of the disease and they are treated with oral replacement of dopamine.

Some previous studies show that substantia nigra is the part of the brain that affected most in Parkinson’s patients. It has high levels of the vitamin D receptor that shows vitamin D plays an important role for normal functions of these cells.

In the said study, the researchers looked at vitamin D levels in 100 people with Parkinson’s, 100 healthy and 100 Alzheimer’s patients. The three groups were also matched for economic circumstance and age.

The researchers found that in Parkinson’s group 23 percent had somewhat low vitamin D levels, in the healthy group it was 10 percent and 16 percent in the Alzheimer’s group.