Vitamin D: It's a matter of life and death--literally.

Ever wonder what the ‘D’ in vitamin D stands for?  I think I know—death.

A ton of studies have come out lately regarding vitamin D’s importance to our healthy lives, but there’s been a particular emphasis on how a deficiency in it can increase our risk for death.

I’ve written about many of these, like this one, where Utah researchers found that people “very low” in vitamin D were 45 percent more likely to die from coronary heart disease.  Or this one, where vitamin D-deficient elderly were three times more likely to die prematurely.

And who can forget this one, where researchers from the American Heart Institute found a linkage between people with low levels of vitamin D and the world’s leading killer—heart disease.

Well the most recent news on vitamin D is every bit as macabre as the aforementioned studies.  Because according to a study that’s set to be published in the online edition of the journal Annals of Family Medicine, black Americans are at the most risk for stroke-related deaths if their deficient in vitamin D.  More at risk than any other race.

Hearkening on the prevalence of studies linking vitamin D deficiency to death, researchers from the University of Rochester wanted to see if this rule applied to all cardiac-related deaths.  So with the help of the National heart Lung and Blood Institute, not to mention the 15,000 men and women they had health information on, they found that, indeed, vitamin D deficiency increased the risk of heart and stroke-related deaths by as much as 40 percent (for those who had the rock-bottom lowest vitamin D levels).

But the risk was even greater for African Americans.  When researchers honed their statistics to how race influenced risk, they found that the largest risk was among blacks (38 percent more).

The researchers assessed “risk” by taking into account various symptoms that are symptomatic of cardiac-related deaths, like body mass index, smoking and levels of C-reactive protein.  Of course they also factored into the equation those that had already died of heart-related deaths and what their vitamin D levels were prior to their dying.

Again, the study’s full details will appear on the journal’s web site, January the 11th.

If you haven’t realized how important vitamin D is to your life by now, then you never will.  Vitamin D is absolutely crucial to bone and cell growth, not to mention the body’s ability to absorb and put calcium to use.

If you’re worried about your vitamin D levels—or simply curious about how high or low they may be—a simple blood test will take care of that.  A vitamin D measurement of less than 20 nanograms per millimeter of blood is considered deficient.

Surprisingly, there are very few food sources that contain vitamin D naturally.  It’s frequently added to foods (i.e. fortified).  They are out there, though, and they include salmon, mackerel, tuna, and liver.

You can also get it through vitamin D supplements and cod liver oil.

Or you could go to the most natural of sources there is for vitamin D—the sun.  Ten to 20 minutes of sun exposure will give you your daily D fill.

Sources:
sciencedaily.com
dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov

Utah researchers find evidence suggesting levels of vitamin D influences risk of death.

Vitamin D just can’t seem to stay out of the news, this time making headlines in one of the country’s healthiest states, as two-thirds of Utahns are deficient in this all-important vitamin.  And because they’re deficient, Utahns are at an increased risk for death!

It doesn’t seem to make sense, does it?  How can a state that’s consistently ranked among the country’s healthiest states (likely due to the state’s high Mormon population, as Mormons have a rather strict health code) be so at risk for dying?  Could vitamin D really play that big of a role for overall health?

According to researchers from the Heart Institute in Salt Lake City’s Intermountain Medical Center, absolutely!

They realized vitamin D’s importance after charting the vitamin D levels of 28,000 50-year-olds, all of whom had no history of heart disease.  Based on where those levels tended to hover over the year of observation, they were put in one of three groups:  normal, low, or very low (as many reports have indicated in past years, vitamin D levels among Americans overwhelmingly tend to be too low than too high).  They were also interested to see if any health complications resulted over that time period, paying special attention to symptoms and signs indicative of heart disease.

Their findings?  In a word, sobering.

For example, individuals with “very low” levels of vitamin D were 77 percent more likely to have died in that year, 45 percent more likely to have coronary heart disease, and 78 percent more likely to have had a stroke.

The findings, published in the journal Clinical Endocrinology, further emphasize health officials’ need to review the recommended vitamin D levels for all individuals.  Health officials have already increased the recommended levels of vitamin D for kids, doubling the recommended amount from 200 IUs per day to 400 IUs per day.  Despite this recommendation, it’s estimated that 6 million kids in the country are still deficient in this all-important vitamin.

The time has come for health officials to institute a recommended increase for all individuals, regardless of age or gender.  According to the Institutes of Health, people are recommended to consume the same amount as kids:  400 IUs per day.  This is woefully inadequate, and—given the fact that the 400 IU vitamin D recommendation came over a year ago—woefully outdated.

Unless you’re a descendant of Benjamin Button, none of us are getting any younger.  As we age, our bones grow more and more brittle, so adults need vitamin D—i.e., bone food—every bit as much growing kids do.  Thus, this study’s researchers recommend as much as 2,000 IUs to 5,000 IUs per day.

The best source of vitamin D is the sun, but other sources include salmon and mackerel.  A four ounce serving of each has around 350 IUs, so you’ll need to either spend some time in the sun or supplement with a high quality vitamin D supplement as well.

You can find out about your vitamin D levels with a simple blood test.

(Note:  For those interested in why Utahns are so low in vitamin D levels, according to the Salt Lake City Tribune, it’s due to a multitude of factors, including the sun not emitting the same amount of UV radiation on Utah due to its geographical location).

Sources:
sltrib.com
msnbc.msn.com
sciencedaily.com
nutraingredients.com