Vitamin D each day cuts dementia risk

TAKING daily vitamin D lowers the risk of developing dementia, especially in women, a study suggests.

Those who took supplements lived free from the disease for longer, with 40 per cent fewer cases overall.

Experts believe that the vitamin may help to reduce the build-up of amyloid plaques and tau, which are linked to Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Scientists from Exeter University and Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute in Canada analysed a group of 12,388 people.

There were 40 per cent fewer cases of the disease among those who reported taking vitamin D supplements, according to the findings published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia. Professor Zahinoor Ismail of the Brain Institute, who led the study, said: ‘We found evidence to suggest that earlier supplementation might be particularly beneficial, before the onset of cognitive decline.’

The effects were found to be greatest among women and in people with normal cognition.

Vitamin D comes from foods – such as oily fish, supplements and exposing skin to sunlight.