Do you know your vitamin D level? If not, a simple blood test called 25(OH)D, or 25-hydroxyvitamin D, can reveal your levels and give you incredible insight into your potential future risk of disease.

Low vitamin D levels are widely known to harm your bones, leading them to become thin, brittle, soft, or misshapen. But a lack of vitamin D does not only impact your bones. Far from it.

You see, vitamin D isn’t a vitamin at all. It’s a steroid hormone that influences virtually every cell in your body. From your heart to your brain to your immune system, maintaining optimal vitamin D levels is incredibly important.

It’s also incredibly easy, because the best way to get vitamin D is to have regular exposure to the sun or a high-quality tanning bed. If those aren’t options, you can take vitamin D3 orally (along with some synergistic nutrients, which I’ll discuss below). It’s one of the least expensive vitamin supplements…

The point is, there’s no reason to put your health at risk from low vitamin D levels… yet researchers such Dr. Michael Holick estimate that 50 percent of the general population is at risk of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency.

If you’re among them, new research shows your risk of diabetes and other metabolic disorders may be significantly increased.

Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Diabetes

You’re probably aware that obesity is associated with type 2 diabetes, but a new study found low vitamin D levels may be an even more significant factor. In a study of more than 100 people, those with low vitamin D levels were more likely to have type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes, or metabolic syndrome, regardless of their weight.

Among obese people, those without metabolic disorders had higher levels of vitamin D than those with such disorders. And among lean people, those with metabolic disorders were more likely to have low levels of vitamin D. According to one of the study’s authors:1

"Our findings indicate that vitamin D is associated more closely with glucose metabolism than obesity…

The study suggests that vitamin D deficiency and obesity interact synergistically to heighten the risk of diabetes and other metabolic disorders. The average person may be able to reduce their risk by maintaining a healthy diet and getting enough outdoor activity."

It’s not the first time vitamin D has been shown to play a role in diabetes. One Indian study found that vitamin D and calcium supplementation in combination with exercise can prevent pre-diabetes from progressing into full-blown diabetes. For every unit increase in vitamin D levels, the risk of progression to diabetes in people with pre-diabetes went down by 8 percent.2