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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Lack of sunshine vitamin may cloud survival odds
  • Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:59:40 -0600


need another reason to be out in the garden?

Lack of sunshine vitamin may cloud survival odds
Jun 23, 4:00 PM EDT
By LINDSEY TANNER
AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO (AP) -- New research linking low vitamin D levels with deaths from
heart disease and other causes bolsters mounting evidence about the
"sunshine" vitamin's role in good health.

Patients with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D were about two times more
likely to die from any cause during the next eight years than those with the
highest levels, the study found. The link with heart-related deaths was
particularly strong in those with low vitamin D levels.

Experts say the results shouldn't be seen as a reason to start popping
vitamin D pills or to spend hours in the sun, which is the main source for
vitamin D.

For one thing, megadoses of vitamin D pills can be dangerous and skin cancer
risks from too much sunshine are well-known. But also, it can't be determined
from this type of study whether lack of vitamin D caused the deaths, or
whether increasing vitamin D intake would make any difference.

Low vitamin D levels could reflect age, lack of physical activity and other
lifestyle factors that also affect health, said American Heart Association
spokeswoman Alice Lichtenstein, director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition
Laboratory at Tufts University.

Still, she said the study is an important addition to an emerging area of
research.

"This is something that should not be ignored," Lichtenstein said.

The study led by Austrian researchers involved 3,258 men and women in
southwest Germany. Participants were aged 62 on average, most with heart
disease, whose vitamin D levels were checked in weekly blood tests. During
roughly eight years of follow-up, 737 died, including 463 from heart-related
problems.

According to one of the vitamin tests they used, there were 307 deaths in
patients with the lowest levels, versus 103 deaths in those with the highest
levels. Counting age, physical activity and other factors, the researchers
calculated that deaths from all causes were about twice as common in patients
in the lowest-level group.

Results appear in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study's lead author, Dr. Harald Dobnig of the Medical University of Graz
in Austria, said the results don't prove that low levels of vitamin D are
harmful "but the evidence is just becoming overwhelming at this point."

Scientists used to think that the only role of vitamin D was to prevent
rickets and strengthen bones, Dobnig said.

"Now we are beginning to realize that there is much more into it," he said

Exactly how low vitamin D levels might contribute to heart problems and
deaths from other illnesses is uncertain, although it is has been shown to
help regulate the body's disease-fighting immune system, he said.

Earlier this month, the same journal included research led by Harvard
scientists linking low vitamin D levels with heart attacks. And previous
research has linked low vitamin D with high blood pressure, diabetes and
obesity, which all can contribute to heart disease.

The new research "provides the strongest evidence to date for a link between
vitamin D deficiency and cardiovascular mortality," said Dr. Edward
Giovannucci of the Harvard study of 18,225 men.

Low vitamin D levels also have been linked with several kinds of cancer and
some researchers believe the vitamin could even be used to help prevent
malignancies.

It has been estimated that at least 50 percent of older adults worldwide have
low vitamin D levels, and the problem is also thought to affect substantial
numbers of younger people. Possible reasons include decreased outdoor
activities, air pollution and, as people age, a decline in the skin's ability
to produce vitamin D from ultraviolet rays, the study authors said.

Some doctors believe overuse of sunscreen lotions has contributed, and say
just 10 to 15 minutes daily in the sun without sunscreen is safe and enough
to ensure adequate vitamin D, although there's no consensus on that.

Diet sources include fortified milk, which generally contains 100
international units of vitamin D per cup, and fatty fish - 3 ounces of canned
tuna has 200 units.

The Institute of Medicine's current vitamin D recommendations are 200 units
daily for children and adults up to age 50, and 400 to 600 units for older
adults. But some doctors believe these amounts are far too low and recommend
taking supplements.

The American Medical Association at its annual meeting last week agreed to
urge a review of the recommendations.

---

On the Net:

Archives: http://www.archinternmed.com

NIH: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MED_VITAMIN_D_DEATHS?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=HEALTH&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT








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