100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee
America's #1 Rated Catalog/Internet Brand
Based on Customer Satisfaction†
Lee Swanson Research Update
Raising Vitamin D Levels May Lower Risk of Heart Attack
August 2008
A study from Harvard School of Public Health says that increasing vitamin D levels in the body may reduce the risk of heart attacks.
A doubling of blood levels of vitamin D was associated with cutting the risk of a heart attack (myocardial infarction) in half, according to results published in a recent issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
“Vitamin D deficiency has been related to an increasing number of conditions and to total mortality,” wrote lead author Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Sc.D. “These results further support an important role for vitamin D in myocardial infarction risk. If this association is causal, which remains to be established, the amount of vitamin D required for optimal benefit may be much higher than would be provided by current recommendations (200-600 IU/d), especially in those with minimal sun exposure.
“Thus the present findings add further support that the current dietary requirements of vitamin D need to be increased to have an effect on circulating 25(OH)D levels substantially large enough for potential health benefits,” he added.
Giovannucci and colleagues reviewed the medical records and blood samples of 454 men aged between 40 and 75 with a history of non-fatal heart attack or fatal heart disease. Data from these “cases” were compared with data from 900 healthy “control” men with no history of heart disease. Self-administered questionnaires provided information on diet and lifestyle factors.
The Harvard researchers calculated that men with vitamin D deficiency, or 25(OH)D levels of 15 ng/mL or lower were 142% more likely to suffer from a heart attack than men with sufficient levels of the vitamin of at least 30 ng/mL.
When the researchers adjusted the results to account for other factors, they discovered that men with vitamin D deficiency were 109% more at risk of heart attack, compared to men with sufficient levels of the vitamin. “Even men with intermediate 25(OH)D levels were at elevated risk relative to those with sufficient 25(OH)D levels,” wrote Giovannucci.
Archives of Internal Medicine168(11):1174-1180, 2008
