Vitamin D doesn’t do much for cardiovascular health, study says
Vitamin D is known to have many health benefits, save for its apparent inability to reduce cardiovascular disease risks. The recent discovery was made by clinical researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) in the US – vitamin D supplements were not observed to decrease the incidence of heart attacks, strokes or other adverse cardiovascular events.
Mahmoud Barbarawi, a clinical instructor in the MSU College of Human Medicine, reviewed data of 83,000 patients who were administered either vitamin D supplements or placebos. The following meta-analysis of data showed no difference in the incidences of cardiovascular events or death for all these patients. This analysis was consistent for both men and women of different ages.
Barbarawi was indeed surprised that there was no cardiovascular benefit from vitamin D supplementation, but thinks it could still help for bone health of osteoporosis patients. Barbarawi’s study also suggested other factors for increased cardiovascular disease risk with low levels of vitamin D in the blood,such as outdoor physical activity and nutritional status, which effectively debunks earlier associations.
Vitamin D, sometimes known as the sunshine vitamin, is made by human skin on exposure to the sun – those living farthest from the equator tend to have lower levels of vitamin D in their blood. However, this can be altered through a diet high in some types of fish or through supplements.
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