Heart Disease Prevention -How Is Vitamin D Related To Hypertension and Heart Disease?

Getting sufficient Vitamin D is paramount because it is an important nutrient that handles several of the body’s metabolic actions. Since the mid-1980s, a growing number of researches has suggested that Vitamin D may play a role in blood pressure regulation and heart health. Click the following link to find out more:

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Vitamin That May Protect One Against Heart Attack!

If one’s body is deficient of certain type of vitamin, he or she may face a high risk of having heart attack. In January 2008, researchers from Harvard Medical School reported that people with low level of Vitamin D might have a higher risk for heart attack, heart failure and stroke. The study was published in June 2008 in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

In their study of identifying possible health benefits from Vitamin D, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston found that men with low levels of Vitamin D have a higher risk of getting heart attack.

The study involved 454 health professionals ages between 40 and 75 who had suffered a nonfatal heart attack or died of heart disease, and 900 other men with no history of cardiovascular disease. These subjects were followed for 10 years after providing blood samples to measure their Vitamin D levels.

The researchers compared participants who were deficient in Vitamin D (no more than 15 nanogrammes per milliliter of blood) with participants who were in the lower end of the normal range (at least 30 nanogrammes per milliliter of blood).

Men classified as deficient in vitamin D were about 2 and a half times more likely to have a heart attack than those with higher levels of the vitamin. In fact, those with low Vitamin D, besides being at higher risk for heart attack, were at particularly high risk to have a fatal heart attack.

Vitamin D is also known as “sunshine vitamin” because body makes Vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunlight. It can be found in milk and fatty fish like salmon. Vitamin D helps our body to adsorb calcium and benefits bone health. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis for adults, rickets for children.

Several recent studies have also indicated that Vitamin D may offer a variety of other health benefits. This includes protecting against colon cancer, breast cancer, peripheral artery disease and tuberculosis.

Vitamin D may protect against heart attack in a number of ways. It might lower blood pressure, regulate inflammation, reduce calcification of coronary arteries, affect the heart muscle or reduce respiratory infections in winter.

To find out whether one’s Vitamin D level is normal, just visit the family doctor and take a blood test. Those with very low levels can take Vitamin D supplements.

Can Risk of Child Diabetes Be Lowered By Taking Vitamin D?

Diabetes is a chronic disease in which human body does not produce enough of the hormone insulin, or cannot make proper use of the insulin it produces (insulin resistance). A diabetic, who does not manage the condition seriously, could likely become a candidate for heart disease.

There are 2 types of diabetes, namely Type-1 and Type-2 diabetes.

Type-1 diabetes is a condition in which beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin are destroyed in early childhood by the body's immune system. The disease is very common among people of European descent, affecting around 2 million Europeans and North Americans. The reasons are still unclear.

Type 2 diabetes, which is far more common, is associated mainly with an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. It is becoming epidemic in many developed or fast-developing countries.

New evidence reported on March 13, 2008 in specialist journal “Archives of Disease in Childhood” that taking vitamin D supplements in infancy might help a youngster prevent Type-1 diabetes.

Doctors from St. Mary's Hospital for Women and Children in Manchester, northern England looked at 5 studies in which children were monitored from infancy to early childhood to see if vitamin D supplements could reduce the risk of becoming diabetic.

The risk of getting diabetes was reduced 29 percent in children who took extra vitamin D as compared to those who had not.

Expose To Sun To Get Your Needed Vitamin D!

Why is vitamin D so important to us? According to a new 5-year study, published in January 2008 in the journal Circulation, vitamin D may not only offer protection against serious illnesses, including strokes and heart failure, but also play a vital role in supporting bone strength.

A substantial amount of vitamin D required by our body is derived from exposure to sun. However, most of us are not getting enough. In fact, only about 10 percent of us are getting ideal levels of vitamin D.

It seems that sunlight is good for us! Should we therefore take as many sunbaths as we can? The answer is no! This will likely to disappoint many sun-worshippers.

Even when you are out of vitamin D, you need not immerse yourself in the sunlight over long period. For most people, short exposures are probably enough. Some researchers have suggested that a fair-skinned adult wearing a T-shirt and trousers needs to spend only 5 to 10 minutes in the middle sun to top up their levels of vitamin D.

Exposing to sun over long period will not give more vitamin D because once enough vitamin D has been produced, the rest will be converted into inactive substances. In addition, lounging around in the UV rays will raise your chance of developing skin cancer. Although one study showed that sunscreen could reduce vitamin D production, it was not enough to cause a deficiency. Therefore, you may want to use sunscreen when exposing in the sunlight.

Studies have shown that if there is a shortage of strong sun during rainy seasons, one can soak it up on sunny days and the vitamin D will be stored in the fatty tissue.

Nevertheless, if you are very concerned about skin cancer, darker skin, or if you are pregnant, elderly, you could always choose the other alternative by taking vitamin D supplement in the morning.

Remember this, you should not wear whole-body coverings or spend most of the time indoors as all these things may just increase your risk of vitamin D deficiency. Insufficient vitamin D may lower your protection against heart disease and many other medical disorders.