Vitamin Information Center

A lack of vitamin D has been found in some studies to play an unrecognized role in death among people suffering from a variety of medical problems, including heart disease and cancer.

Now researchers say they have evidence that even in the general population, having too little of the vitamin appears to be associated with a higher risk of death.

Writing in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers say they looked at the vitamin D levels and death rates of more than 13,000 people during a period of more than six years.

Those who fell in the lowest quarter of vitamin D levels had a 26 percent higher risk of death from all causes than those in the top quarter, according to the study, which was led by Michal L. Melamed of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

About 41 percent of men and 53 percent of women in the U.S. have levels of the vitamin that are considered too low.

Breakthrough likely to help people with Type 2 diabetes

Two groups of researchers in Japan have identified a gene that is directly linked to the occurrence of diabetes, a discovery likely to help in the early identification of people who may be susceptible to the disease.

A group of researchers from the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research and another from the International Medical Center of Japan separately studied individual diabetic cases involving Japanese patients.

Their findings were published in the online edition of the U.S. medical journal Nature Genetics. The researchers found a link between a gene known as KCNQ1 and the onset of Type 2 diabetes — the variant affecting 90 percent of Japan’s 8.2 million diabetic patients.

The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes is attributed to a lack of physical exercise, excessive eating and genetics.

Low vitamin D levels are associated with a higher risk of death, according to a report released on August 11, 2008 in the Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Vitamin D is a group of prohormones that play important roles in calcium metabolism, bone formation, parathyroid function, and the immune system. Presently, the ideal bood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) has been suggested as 30 nanograms per milliliter or higher. In the United States, approximately 41% of men and 53% of women have levels lower than 28 nanograms per milliliter.

There are many potential health problems that could contribute to death in individuals with low vitamin D levels, including an effect on blood pressure, insulin response, or risk of obesity and diabetes.

To investigate the potential implications of this deficiency, Michal L. Melamed, M.D., M.H.S., of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y., and colleagues examined 13,331 individuals in the Third National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES III), a large cohort study performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These individuals were examined for Vitamin D levels between 1988 and 1994, and tracked through 2000, with a median 8.7 years of follow-up.

In this period, 1,806 participants died. When divided into groups based on vitamin D levels, the group maintaining the lowest level, defined as less than 17.8 nanograms per milliliter, showed a 26% increased risk of death from any cause in comparison with the group with the highest levels of vitamin D. This was not associated with cardiovascular disease or cancer alone.

The authors conclude that “the lowest 25(OH)D quartile (less than 17.8 nanograms per milliliter) is associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality in the general U.S. population.” They continue: “Further observational studies are needed to confirm these findings and establish the mechanisms underlying these observations. If confirmed, randomized clinical trials will be needed to determine whether vitamin D supplementation at higher doses could have any potential benefit in reducing future mortality risk in those with 25(OH)D deficiency.”

25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and the Risk of Mortality in the General Population
Michal L. Melamed, MD, MHS; Erin D. Michos, MD, MHS; Wendy Post, MD, MS; Brad Astor, PhD
Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(15):1629-1637
Click Here For Abstract

Written by Anna Sophia McKenney
Copyright: Medical News Today

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vitamin D may protect against an artery disease in which fatty deposits restrict blood flow to the limbs, researchers said on Wednesday.

Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York found that people with low levels of vitamin D in their blood experience an increased risk for a condition known as peripheral artery disease, or PAD.

PAD most often reduces blood flow to the legs, causing pain and numbness, impairing the ability to walk and in some cases leading to amputation. It develops when fatty deposits accumulate in the inner linings of artery walls, cutting blood flow and oxygen to the legs, feet, arms and elsewhere.

The researchers based the findings on a U.S. government health survey involving 4,839 adults who had their blood vitamin D levels measured and underwent a screening method for PAD that assesses blood flow to the legs.

The people in the lowest 25 percent of vitamin D levels were 80 percent more likely to have PAD than those in the highest 25 percent, the researchers said.

“Participants in the survey who had the lowest vitamin D levels had a much higher prevalence of peripheral artery disease,” Dr. Michal Melamed of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

But Melamed said it would be premature for people to start taking vitamin D supplements because more studies are needed to confirm that it is protective.

Melamed noted that other vitamins that had been thought to possibly help prevent cardiovascular disease such as vitamin E did not pan out after further research.

The study was presented at an American Heart Association meeting in Atlanta and was published in the association’s journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and is considered important for bone health. In adults, vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis, and it can lead to rickets in children.

Some studies have indicated it might provide other benefits. For example, one published in January found that people with low vitamin D levels had an elevated risk for heart attack, heart failure and stroke, suggesting the vitamin may protect against cardiovascular disease.

The body makes vitamin D when skin is exposed to sunlight. It is found in fatty fish such as salmon. Milk commonly is fortified with it.

People with PAD have a four to five times greater risk of heart attack or stroke, according to the American Heart Association. The group said 8 million Americans have PAD.

(Editing by Xavier Briand)

Here’s something new to add to the growing amount of affidavit to get able amounts of vitamin D: it may advice anticipate borderline avenue ache (PAD), a action that causes leg affliction and asleep and can baffle with walking.

PAD develops if blubbery deposits attenuated the arteries in the legs, and affects about eight actor Americans. Advisers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York analyzed abstracts from a analysis of added than 4,800 adults to analyze vitamin D levels with the accident of PAD.

They begin that the college the levels of the sunshine vitamin, the lower the prevalence of PAD—in fact, the ache was 64 percent added accepted a part of abstraction participants with the everyman levels of vitamin D than a part of those whose vitamin D levels were highest.

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People with low vitamin D levels may face an increased risk for peripheral artery disease, also known as PAD, New York researchers said.Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University said that PAD is a common disease that occurs when arteries in the legs become narrowed by fatty deposits, causing pain and numbness and impairing the ability to walk.

Lead author Dr. Michal Melamed of Albert Einstein College and colleagues analyzed data from a national survey measuring vitamin D levels in the blood of 4,839 U.S. adults.

The survey tested these people using the ankle-brachial index, a screening tool for PAD that measures blood flow to the legs. Also measured were other risk factors for PAD such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure and presence of diabetes.

The study found that higher levels of vitamin D were associated with a lower prevalence of PAD. Among individuals with the highest vitamin D levels — more than 29.2 nanogram per milliliter (ng/mL) — 3.7 percent had PAD. Among those with the lowest vitamin D levels — less than 17.8 ng/mL — 8.1 percent had PAD.

The findings are being reported at the American Heart Association’s Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology annual conference in Atlanta.