High-dose vitamin D supplementation in paediatric patients with new-onset type 1 diabetes may reduce complications, according to a study published online in Frontiers in Endocrinology.

Researchers randomly assigned 36 children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes to receive either vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol, given as 50,000 IU per week for two months and then every other week for 10 months) or a placebo.

Led by Dr Benjamin Nwosu, from the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, the researchers found that vitamin D was significantly associated with a lower temporal rise in haemoglobin A1c at a mean rate of change of 0.14% every three months versus 0.46% every three months for the placebo group.

Additionally, vitamin D was significantly associated with the functional marker of partial clinical remission, the insulin-dose adjusted haemoglobin A1c at a mean rate of change of 0.30% every three months versus 0.77% every three months for the placebo group.