More Information on Vitamin D Resuts

I know I sound like a broken record and you may tire of my beating the drum for vitamin D But maybe this is my one good deed in life...I hope staying alive is not off topic for some groups.

Henry

November 17, 2009
Heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and premature death all linked to insufficient vitamin D levels

The
results of a study presented on November 16, 2009 at the American Heart
Association's Scientific Conference in Orlando, Florida, confirmed a
strong association between the presence of reduced vitamin D levels and
a greater risk of coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure and
dying over follow-up in men and women 50 years of age and older.
Brent
Muhlestein, MD and his colleagues at Intermountain Medical Center in
Salt Lake City followed 27,686 subjects with no history of heart
disease for an average of 1.2 years. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels
obtained during routine clinical care were classified as normal at over
30 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL), low at between 15 to 30 ng/mL or
very low at less than 15 ng/mL.
Over
the follow-up period, 2,614 participants developed coronary artery
disease, 1,742 developed heart failure, 314 experienced a stroke and
1,193 deaths occurred. Those with very low vitamin D levels were 45
percent likelier to develop heart disease, twice as likely to develop
heart failure, 78 percent more likely to experience a stroke,and 77
percent likelier to die than those with normal levels. Subjects whose
vitamin D levels were classified as "low" as opposed to "very low" also
had greater risks of these conditions, however, the increase compared
to those with normal levels was not as great as the very low group.
"This
was a unique study because the association between Vitamin D deficiency
and cardiovascular disease has not been well-established," commented Dr
Muhlestein, who is the director of cardiovascular research of
Intermountain Medical Center's Heart Institute. "Its conclusions about
how we can prevent disease and provide treatment may ultimately help us
save more lives."
"Utah's
population gave us a unique pool of patients whose health histories are
different than patients in previous studies," he remarked. "For
example, because of Utah's low use of tobacco and alcohol, we were able
to narrow the focus of the study to the effects of vitamin D on the
cardiovascular system."
"We
concluded that among patients 50 years of age or older, even a moderate
deficiency of Vitamin D levels was associated with developing coronary
artery disease, heart failure, stroke, and death," noted coauthor Heidi
May, PhD, MS, who is an epidemiologist with the Intermountain Medical
Center research team. "This is important because vitamin D deficiency
is easily treated. If increasing levels of vitamin D can decrease some
risk associated with these cardiovascular diseases, it could have a
significant public health impact. When you consider that cardiovascular
disease is the leading cause of death in America, you understand how
this research can help improve the length and quality of people's
lives."
"We
believe the findings are important enough to now justify randomized
treatment trials of supplementation in patients , Vitamin D
deficiency to determine for sure whether it can reduce the risk of
heart disease," Dr Muhlestein added.

Jim Mcguiness, Man to Man,Melbourne, FL