Sunshine vitamin protect against heart attacks

New research is adding to an already impressive number of health benefits attributed to vitamin D.

In a study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, it has been found that men with low levels of vitamin D have an increased risk for heart attacks.

This latest research is yet another study which identifies important health benefits from the "sunshine vitamin."

Vitamin D is produced by the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight - it helps the body absorb calcium and is important for bone health and a deficiency in adults can lead to osteoporosis and to rickets in children.

It is found in fatty fish like salmon, and milk is often fortified with it.

Recent studies have indicated that vitamin D may also offer protection against types of cancer including colon and breast cancer, peripheral artery disease and tuberculosis.

This study involved 454 male health professionals ages 40 to 75 who had suffered a nonfatal heart attack or died of heart disease and another 900 men with no history of cardiovascular disease.

All were followed for a 10 year period after providing blood samples to measure their vitamin D levels - a deficiency was classed as no more than 15 nanograms per milliliter of blood - the lower end of the normal range was at least 30 nanograms per milliliter of blood.

The researchers found that those with low vitamin D levels were about 2 1/2 times more likely to have a heart attack than those with higher levels of the vitamin.

Dr. Edward Giovannucci says those with low vitamin D, on top of just being at higher risk for heart attack in general, were at particularly high risk to have a fatal heart attack.

Earlier this year research led by Dr. Thomas Wang of Harvard Medical School also found that people with low vitamin D levels have a higher risk for heart attack, heart failure and stroke.

Dr. Giovannucci says many people have low vitamin levels and there is now enough evidence of the benefit of vitamin D to encourage people to have normal levels which a simple blood test would establish, then those whose levels were too low can be prescribed vitamin D supplements.

Dr. Giovannucci says in the past doctors have only been concerned about the bone effects of low levels of vitamin D and it may in fact cause subtle physiological changes in a lot of tissues.

Some studies have shown sudden increases in heart disease-related deaths at higher latitudes and during the winter months in areas and times of less daylight and decreases in such deaths at lower latitudes and during the summer.

Giovannucci suggests vitamin D may protect against heart attack by lowering blood pressure, regulating inflammation, reducing calcification of coronary arteries and affecting the heart muscle, or reduce respiratory infections in winter.

The study is published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.