Low vitamin D linked to metabolic syndrome in seniors

Insufficient and deficient levels of vitamin D may increase the risk of metabolic syndrome by about 40 percent, according to new findings.

According to findings presented at The Endocrine Society's 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego, of the 1,300 white Dutch men and women ages 65 and older surveyed almost 50 percent were vitamin D deficient, and about 37 percent of the total sample had the metabolic syndrome.

Vitamin D deficiency has previously been linked to impaired insulin secretion in animals and humans, and has also been linked to insulin resistance in healthy, glucose-tolerant subjects.