'Sunshine vitamin deficiency can cause diabetes'

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine found a correlation between vitamin D3 serum levels and subsequent incidence of Type 1 diabetes.

The six-year study of blood levels of nearly 2,000 individuals suggests a preventive role for vitamin D3 in this disease.

"Previous studies proposed the existence of an association between vitamin D deficiency and risk of and Type 1 diabetes, but this is the first time that the theory has been tested in a way that provides the dose-response relationship," said Cedric Garland, professor in UCSD's Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.

The researchers thawed and analysed 1000 samples of serum from healthy people who later developed type 1 diabetes and 1000 healthy controls whose blood was drawn on or near the same date but who did not develop type 1 diabetes.

By comparing the serum concentrations of the predominant circulating form of vitamin D