Mistakes in terminology cause false conclusions: Vitamin D does not increase the risk of dementia

Abstract

There has been a progressive trend in recent years, to trivialize the terminology surrounding the molecules based on a secosteroid structure. The generic use of the term, “vitamin D," results in gross misrepresentations that confuse the use of a drug commonly used for patients with kidney failure, with the nutritional use of vitamin D. This commentary is a critique of one particularly bad example of that terminological trivialization. Authors may simply want to add impact to their findings when they refer to “vitamin D supplementation” when what they are reporting on is calcitriol. However, the consequences of this practice are to mislead all readers who do not go through the primary publication very carefully to understand the details behind sloppy terminology. Contrary to all the words written in the publication commented upon here, it offers no clinical evidence that vitamin D supplementation increases risk of Alzheimer's disease or dementia.