Barbara J Boucher

Barts & The London SMD, Queen Mary University of London · Cebtre for Diabetes etc

Background/Objectives: Prospective cohort studies are useful for studying how biomolecular status affects risk of adverse health outcomes. Less well known is that the longer the follow-up time, the lower the association (or “apparent effect”) due to “regression dilution”. Here, we evaluate how follow-up interval from baseline to “event” affects the...

Background/Objectives: Prospective cohort studies are useful for studying how biomolecular status affects risk of adverse health outcomes. Less well known is that the longer the follow-up time, the lower the apparent effect due to “regression dilution.” Here we evaluate how follow-up time affects the relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [...

Background/Objectives: Prospective cohort studies are useful for studying how biomolecular status affects risk of adverse health outcomes. Less well known is that the longer the follow-up time, the lower the apparent effect due to “regression dilution.” Here we evaluate how follow-up time affects the relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [...

The risks of COVID-19, whether of becoming infected, needing intensive care or dying, consistently relate inversely to vitamin D status [serum 25(OH)D concentration], but low 25(OH)D is not just due to COVID-19 since they are seen in relation to pre-pandemic 25(OH)D values, both in individual cohorts and across many populations. Furthermore, many r...

This interesting report [...]

For nearly a century, researchers have associated periodontal disease (PD) with risks of other adverse health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and respiratory diseases, as well as adverse pregnancy outcomes. Those findings have led to the hypothesis that PD causes those adverse health outcomes either by increasing systemi...

Accumulating evidence supports the potential protective effects of vitamin D against chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune diseases, cancers, cardiovascular disease (ischaemic heart disease and stroke), type 2 diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, stroke, and infectious diseases such as acute respiratory tract diseases,...

D:\Downloads\GrantBoucherRevitDpoorhealthJIM.pdf

Although observational studies of health outcomes generally suggest beneficial effects with, or following, higher serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have generally not supported those findings. Here we review results from observational studies and RCTs regarding how vitamin D status affects sever...

High vitamin D deficiency rates, with rickets and osteomalacia, have been common in South Asians (SAs) arriving in Britain since the 1950s with pre ventable infant deaths from hypocalcaemic status-epilepticus and cardiomyopathy. Vitamin D deficiency increases common SA disorders (type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease ), recent trials and non-l...

Many diseases have large seasonal variations in which winter overall mortality rates are about 25% higher than in summer in mid-latitude countries, with cardiovascular diseases and respiratory infections and conditions accounting for most of the variation. Cancers, by contrast, do not usually have pronounced seasonal variations in incidence or mort...

The health effects of vitamin D supplementation [by Bouillon, R. et al. Nat Rev. Endocrinol.: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-022-00647-w (2022)] reported that vitamin D supplementation of vitamin D-replete adults (with baseline serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) >50 nmol/L) does not reduce cancer, cardiovascular events, falls, or p...

availabloe from frst author, WB Grant, I expect, B J Boucher

Vitamin D3 has many important health benefits. Unfortunately, these benefits are not widely known among health care personnel and the general public. As a result, most of the world's population has serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations far below optimal values. This narrative review examines the evidence for the major causes of death i...

br/>Introduction Several studies have reported the importance of vitamin D status to musculoskeletal health in populations of older adults. Here we report relationships between circulating serum 25(OH)D and musculoskeletal health in a community cohort of UK adults in midlife and investigate whether environmental (dietary intake, use of supplements)...

Background Betel-nut consumption is the fourth most common addictive habit globally and there is good evidence linking the habit to obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D) and the metabolic syndrome. The aim of our pilot study was to identify gene expression relevant to obesity, T2D and the metabolic syndrome using a genome-wide transcriptomic approach in a...

Betel-nut consumption is the fourth most common addictive habit globally and there is good evidence to link it with obesity, type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. We adopted a genome-wide transcriptomic approach in a human monocyte cell line incubated with arecoline and its nitrosated products to identify gene expression changes relevant to o...

Our knowledge of vitamin D has come a long way since the 100 years it took for doctors to accept, between 1860-1890, that both sunlight and cod liver oil [a well-known folk remedy] cured and prevented rickets.1]Vitamins D2/3 were discovered exactly a hundred years ago and over the last 50 years vitamin D has been found to have many effects on virtu...

To the Editor In an Editorial, Drs Lucas and Wolf¹ stated that randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of vitamin D and health outcomes have failed to confirm observational study findings. However, that is not the case for several health outcomes. Secondary analyses of the Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL) revealed significant reductions in overall can...

1 January 24, 2020 Yes, vitamin D can be a magic bullet William B. Grant1 , Barbara J. Boucher2 Clin Nutr. online 31 March 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2020.03.021 1 Director, Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center P.O. Box 641603 San Francisco, CA 94164-1603, USA www.sunarc.org wbgrant@infionline.net 2 The Blizard Institute Barts...

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations are low in Mongolia, averaging 22 ng/mL in summer and only 8 ng/mL in winter. Mongolians have high incidence and/or prevalence of several diseases linked to low 25(OH)D concentrations, including ischemic heart disease, malignant neoplasms, cirrhosis of the liver, ischemic stroke, lower respiratory...

I do not think that I have the copyright for this one. BJB

Context: Vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 have been hypothesized to exert differential effects on vitamin D metabolism. Objective: To compare the influence of administering vitamin D2 vs vitamin D3 on metabolism of vitamin D3. Methods: We measured baseline and 4-month serum concentrations of vitamin D3, 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25[OH]D3), 25-hydroxyvita...

Scragg reports increasing evidence for differences in the thresholds for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration [vitamin D repletion] that need to be reached in populations observationally, or to be achieved by vitamin D supplementation in deficiency, before health benefits become apparent in different conditions [...]

In their report on the roles of vitamin D status during early life development in Australia, Di Marco et al [...]

Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency is common, world-wide, but vitamin D repletion throughout life, and into older age, has accepted health benefits for bone. Many mechanisms through which vitamin D also benefits soft tissues are understood, and clinical evidence of such benefits is now accumulating, especially following re-analyses of trial data,...

This review was conducted to clarify both the complex interrelationship between adiposity and vitamin D and the clinical implications of vitamin D status on metabolic abnormalities associated with obesity. Obesity increases the risk of vitamin D deficiency, a finding consistently reported across all ages and in different population groups. Accordin...

Genetic and non-genetic effects of increased sun and vitamin D exposure: role in the observed healthy changes in cardiometabolic risk factors in Iranian children - William B Grant, Barbara J Boucher

The increased risk of vitamin D deficiency in obesity is well established. There is substantial variation in the estimated strength of the association between different population groups, likely reflecting methodological issues in measuring adiposity and 25(OH)D concentrations. Genetic studies have shown that higher body mass index (BMI) is a causa...

Many health benefits are attributed to vitamin D, with those findings supported mostly by observational outcome studies of relationships to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. However, many randomized controlled trials (RCTs) aiming to confirm those findings have failed, perhaps because serum 25(OH)D is an index of UVB exposure and non-vitamin D m...

Although geographic ecological studies and observational studies find that ultraviolet B exposure and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations are inversely correlated with 15–20 types of cancer, few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of vitamin D support those findings. The poor design of some RCTs may account for that lack of support. Most v...

Death rates in the U.S. show a pronounced seasonality. The broad seasonal variation shows about 25% higher death rates in winter than in summer with an additional few percent increase associated with the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. A pronounced increase in death rates also starts in mid-September, shortly after the school year begins. The ca...

The objective was to provide the current state of the art regarding the role of vitamin D in chronic diseases (osteoporosis, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, dementia, autism, type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, male and female fertility). The document was drawn up by panelists that provided their contribution according to their own scientific exp...

The mechanistic data presented in this interesting review suggests that long-term exposure to safe levels of ultra-violet radiation (UVR) has protective effects against the development of obesity and cardiovascular dysfunction beyond those induced by the cutaneous synthesis of vitamin D3 through factors such as the induction of cutaneous NO secreti...

Objectives: The present study was designed to investigate the effects of calcitriol (the active hormonal metabolite of vitamin D) on hepatic metabolic abnormalities in type 2 diabetes. Methods: Type 2 diabetic db/db mice were used to investigate the effects of calcitriol on hepatic and systemic metabolic disorders. HepG2 cells cultured in insuli...

Background: Transgenerational effects of paternal Areca catechu nut chewing on offspring metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk in humans, on obesity and diabetes mellitus experimentally, and of paternal smoking on offspring obesity, are reported, likely attributable to genetic and epigenetic effects previously reported in betel-associated disease. We aim...

Several reports describe ‘U’-shaped 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration–health outcomes, including musculo-skeletal disorders such as falls and fractures, several cancers, cardiovascular disease (CVD),cognitive function, all-cause mortality rates, birth outcomes, allergic reactions, frailty, and some other disorders. This paper reviews repo...

Aims: Although an inverse association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration and type 2 diabetes and coronary risk exists, a causal link has not been established. We investigated the effect of short-term vitamin D supplementation on cardiometabolic outcomes among individuals at increased diabetes risk. Materials and methods: In a do...

\textbf{Aims:}$ To investigate the effect of short-term vitamin D supplementation on cardiometabolic outcomes among individuals with an elevated risk of diabetes. $\textbf{Methods:}$ In a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial, 340 adults who had an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes (non-diabetic hyperglycaemia or positive diabetes risk sc...

Background and objective: Given the role of uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) in the accumulation of fat in the hepatocytes and in the enhancement of protective mechanisms in acute ethanol intake, we hypothesised that UCP2 polymorphisms are likely to cause liver disease through their interactions with obesity and alcohol intake. To test this hypothesis,...

To investigate whether intakes of Ca, vitamin D, casein and whey are associated with periodontitis and to investigate the possibility of interactions between them. Cross-sectional study. An Internet-based, 267-item FFQ was used to assess dietary intake. Intakes of casein (32·0 g/d), whey proteins (9·6 g/d) and vitamin D (5·8 μg/d) were classified a...

The two BMJ articles suggest that vitamin D supplementation has limited benefits.1 2 However, their findings could be compromised by non-adjustment for several factors—inclusion of the same study data in several meta-analyses reviewed; benefits only at higher intakes (fracture reduction in older women) or with baseline deficiency (muscle strength);...

The global prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing. Effective strategies to address this public health challenge are currently lacking. A number of epidemiological studies have reported associations between low concentrations of 25-hydroxy vitamin D and the incidence of diabetes, but a causal link has not been established. We investigate the ef...

Background To investigate whether intakes of calcium and dairy-servings within-recommendations were associated with plaque score when allowing for vitamin D intakes. Methods In this cross-sectional study, including 606 older Danish adults, total dietary calcium intake (mg/day) was classified as below vs. within-recommendations and dairy intake as...

Aims/hypothesis: Vitamin D is necessary for normal insulin action and suppresses renin production. Increased renin-angiotensin system (RAS) activity causes islet damage, including reduced insulin secretion. We therefore sought to determine whether hypovitaminosis D-induced upregulation of islet RAS in vivo impairs islet cell function and increases...

It is very good news that a consensus has been reached in the UK on using HbA(1c) measurements for the diagnosis of diabetes, especially as this is a development that has taken over 30 years to develop from a twinkle in several eyes [1,2], which saw potential for these assays for diagnosis and for risk assessment, to being a methodology suitable fo...

This cross-sectional study investigates whether calcium intakes from dairy and non-dairy sources, and absolute intakes of various dairy products, are associated with periodontitis. The calcium intake (mg/day) of 135 older Danish adults was estimated by a diet history interview and divided into dairy and non-dairy calcium. Dairy food intake (g/day)...

This report reviews evidence on disorders related to inadequate vitamin D repletion in older people. Vitamin D is as essential for bone health in adults as in children, preventing osteomalacia and muscle weakness and protecting against falls and low-impact fractures. Vitamin D is provided by skin synthesis by UVB-irradiation from summer sunshine an...

Review of the evidence on hypovitaminosis D as a risk factor for metabolic syndrome and its sequelae, T2DM and CVD, suggests long-term vitamin D repletion could reduce these risks. There is mechanistic evidence for protective effects for MetS and the balance of evidence, (cross-sectional and prospective), supports this postulate. Much of the data s...

It is widely established that vitamin D is critical for bone health. There is also an increasing body of evidence from observational studies that low levels of vitamin D are associated with a range of other disorders, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. People in temperate climates are often deficient in vitamin D, particularly in winterti...

Vitamin D is a hormone precursor, originally provided by ultraviolet light-induced skin synthesis of cholecalciferol but, with modern lifestyles, humans depend on dietary intake [mainly as ergocalciferol]; adequate intakes are essential for musculo-skeletal health, the 'classical' benefits of this vitamin, modulated by the activated hormonal metabo...

The objective of the present study was to explore the association of serum vitamin D concentration and polymorphism in the vitamin D receptor (VDR), with knee pain and radiographic knee osteoarthritis (OA) among men and women in a large population-based UK cohort study. Seven hundred and eighty-seven participants in the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (...

There is considerable interest in the possible role of vitamin D in respiratory disease, but only one population-based study has reported associations with lung function. The cross-sectional relationships of total dietary vitamin D intake, serum 25 hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations and three vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms (Apa1, Fo...

The spherical anatomy of human and rat liver lobules implies that more central cells have less time to carry out their function than more peripherally located cells because blood flows past them more rapidly. This problem could be overcome if more centrilobular cells could operate at higher temperatures than periportal cells. This study presents ev...

Adequate provision of vitamin D has been found, in ecological, cross-sectional, and observational studies, to be associated with reduction in the risk of many types of cancer, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), autoimmune diseases, diabetes mellitus types 1 and 2, neurological disorders, several bacterial and viral infections, and adverse pregnancy ou...

Metabolic consequences of vitamin D deficiency have become a recent research focus. Maternal vitamin D status is thought to influence musculoskeletal health in children, but its relation with offspring metabolic risk is not known. We aimed to examine the association between maternal vitamin D status and anthropometric variables, body composition, a...

The aim of this study was to demonstrate that hormonal vitamin D (calcitriol) modulates the local pancreatic islet renin-angiotensin system (RAS) whilst improving islet beta cell secretory function. Isolated islets cultured ex vivo under high- or low-glucose conditions and treated with or without calcitriol were examined for changes in RAS componen...

Recent recommendations from the Institute of Medicine (IOM, US/Canada) for vitamin D intakes set dietary reference intakes for adults at 600 IU/day.1 Implementation of these guidelines would considerably improve the situation in the UK, which is the only European country with no recommendation for healthy adults.2 …

The Rank Forum on Vitamin D was held on 2nd and 3rd July 2009 at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. The workshop consisted of a series of scene-setting presentations to address the current issues and challenges concerning vitamin D and health, and included an open discussion focusing on the identification of the concentrations of serum 25-hyd...

Diabetes is an increasing epidemic; hyperglycemia results from lack of insulin or inadequate insulin secretion following increases in insulin resistance. Huge costs are placed upon sufferers and health providers, aggravated as serious and disabling complications develop. Thus, measures to reduce the diabetic burden are public health concerns. Vitam...

Van Woudenbergh et al. (1) report that consumption of lean but not of fatty fish was associated prospectively with a significant increase in risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes, not accounted for by differences in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) consumption. They further report that this risk was abolished by adjustment for...

Prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in Western populations is high; pregnant women are identified as a high-risk group, especially if dark skinned. Consequences of severe clinical vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy can be life threatening to the newborn, while lesser degrees of hypovitaminosis D may have important long-term implications for offspring he...