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Low Vitamin D Might Hasten Death

Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, report that people with low levels of vitamin D in their bloodstreams are at greater risk of dying from any cause than someone getting more of the vitamin.

Optimum blood level of vitamin D is thought to be 30 nanograms per milliliter or more.  According to the study, however, only about 40% of American men and 53% of the country’s women have less than 28 nanograms per milliliter of the vitamin in their bloodstreams.

Using data collected between 1988 and 1994, Michal L. Melamed, MD, MHS, of the Einstein medical school, analyzed the vitamin D levels of 13,331 study participants, each of whom was tracked until 2001.  The researchers report 1,806 deaths in the study’s participants by the midpoint of the study, or about 8.7 years into the follow-up phase.

Study participants were divided into four groups according to vitamin D levels.  The group with the lowest amount of vitamin D were at 26% higher risk of death, from any cause, than those with more vitamin D.  This group, the quarter with the lowest levels, had less than 17.8 nanograms per milliliter of vitamin D.

According to the research team, low levels of vitamin D may hasten death by affecting blood pressure, increasing the risk for obesity and diabetes, and by altering the body’s ability to process insulin.

Interestingly, cardiovascular events occur more frequently in the wintertime, when vitamin levels may be lowest due to shorter winter days.  The survival rate for cancer is said to be better when diagnosis comes in the summer months, when the more intense sunlight naturally increases a person’s vitamin D levels.

No determination has yet been established as to whether vitamin D supplements will offset the risk of early death when vitamin D levels are low but the research team has expressed interest in further study.

The August 11 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine carries the full story of the Melamed study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Source: JAMA

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