Go for the "Big D"

~ April 8, 2009

Canwest News Service - Another study says vitamin D is good for you -- this time, for your heart.

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology says people with low levels of the vitamin, which comes from sunshine and pills but not much else, are twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke within five years compared to people with higher levels.

It adds to evidence that people lacking vitamin D have a higher risk of various cancers and diabetes too. But as well, it shows that the early studies promoting the value of this cheap vitamin are being confirmed by scientific followup -- unlike the faded early promise of vitamins C and E.

"Vitamin D deficiency is an unrecognized, emerging cardiovascular risk factor, which should be screened for and treated," said the study's main author, cardiologist James O'Keefe of the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo. "Vitamin D is easy to assess and supplementation (pills) is simple, safe and inexpensive."

The new evidence comes from the Framingham Heart Study, a famous study that has followed thousands of ordinary people, beginning in the 1950s, to find links between their lifestyle and their cardiovascular health.

The story isn't over. "I think one always has to be careful in reporting on the results of clinical trials," said vitamin D researcher John White of McGill University.

He said different trials "may point in opposite directions. "Certainly the two major trials -- this one and the one reported a year ago -- certainly suggested that vitamin D deficiency is associated with cardiovascular problems later in life."

Even with a note of caution, he said the direction seems clear so far and important to Canadians: "That vitamin D deficiency -- which in temperate (non-tropical) populations is quite widespread -- is associated with cardiac problems."