The researchers carried out the study through a cross-sectional analysis of 286 patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Some 61 patients were considered to be demented while 225 were not demented.

To study neuropsychiatric function in participants, patients were given a battery of tests measuring global cognitive function, verbal memory, semantic verbal fluency, executive function, and depression, according to the findings published in Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.

The research unveiled significant negative associations between vitamin D levels and disease severity, as measured based on both the Hoehn and Yahr Scale and the United Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale motor section.

Those patients with higher levels of serum vitamin D3 showed greater fluency for naming vegetables and animals and immediate and delayed recall on a verbal learning test, reported the study researchers from the Oregon Health and Sciences University in the United States.
Parkinson’s Disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that leads to shaking (tremors) and difficulty with walking, movement, and coordination.

Vitamin D’s role in health has been a subject of considerable scrutiny in recent years. Low levels increase the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, cancer, and infections.

An earlier analysis showed a positive link between vitamin D deficiency and disorders such as infectious diseases, cardiovascular illnesses, various mood disorders and glucose-metabolism problems.

In some countries such as the UK, vitamin D supplements are recommended for groups at higher risk of deficiency, including all pregnant and breastfeeding women, children under five years old, people aged over 65, and people at risk of not getting enough exposure to sunlight.

People with dark skin, such as people of African-Caribbean and South Asian origin, and people who wear full-body coverings, as well as pale-skinned people are also known to be at higher risk.

“It has been known for almost a century that vitamin D supplements given to those with deficient vitamin D levels results in improved bone health, preventing hypocalcemic seizure and rickets,”  Dr Colin Michie, consultant senior lecturer in pediatrics and chair of the nutrition committee at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health had earlier commented.

It is important to provide appropriate supplements such as vitamin D for the groups in need to improve bone health, he recommended.

Many experts believe that enough vitamin D can be supplied by being exposed to the sun for 10 to 15 minutes a day. It is also found in certain foods like oily fish, cheese, eggs and breakfast cereals.