TheSoko.com - More Beneficial Claims for Vitamin D

Have you been swept up by the vitamin D craze yet? Peter Liu spreads the shine with a new study touting the benefits of even more vitamin D.

Vitamin D has received much more exposure since last year when the journal Archives of Internal Medicine published a study on the various benefits of vitamin D. Since then, the much touted sunshine vitamin has received attention both in the public eye and in the scientific community, with many research studies done to monitor and test the various ways vitamin D can enhance our daily lives. New studies once again published in the Archives of Internal Medicine have added claims and benefits associated with the increased intake of vitamin D, but many people still don’t have sufficient levels of it in their system. However, the results of this new study may give those refusing to step outside some interesting figures to bump them into the open air.

Sunny Results

Led by researchers at the Medical University of Graz in Austria, the study aimed to test if there was a link between low vitamin D levels and an increased risk of death from all causes, including cardiovascular disease. A group of 3,258 male and female patients had their blood tested every month to monitor their vitamin D levels. With most patients at a mean age of 62 and a follow-up period of 7.7 years, they were split into quartiles according to the levels of vitamin D in their blood. The group with the lowest levels of vitamin D had a level of 19 nanomoles per litre, while the second lowest group had vitamin D levels of 33.2 nanomoles per litre. The group with the highest levels of vitamin D had a median level of 70.9 nanomoles per litre. During the follow-up period, 737 patients died, 463 of them from complications involving cardiovascular disease. It was determined that patients with the lowest levels of vitamin D in their blood were two times more likely to die from all causes than patients with the highest levels.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Harold Dobnig of the Medical University of Graz, claims the study doesn’t prove that low levels of vitamin D are harmful, but that the evidence is becoming very convincing at this point. More studies and research are being done to prove that there is a direct link between high levels of vitamin D and longevity.

Painful Information

If the promise of living longer doesn’t convince you, vitamin D could also help you reduce back pain, as shown in a new report that has linked low vitamin D levels with chronic back pain. Dr. Stewart B. Leavitt, editor of Pain Treatment Topics examined 22 clinical trials of patients with chronic back pain and discovered that, in various studies, 48 per cent to 100 per cent of subjects diagnosed with back pain had severely low levels of vitamin D. A three-month vitamin D treatment study of 360 subjects diagnosed with back problems had a beneficial effect in 95 per cent of the patients, while all subjects with a vitamin D deficiency in that study found relief from their pains with increased intake of vitamin D.

So the importance of increased vitamin D intake is steadily rising. Low vitamin D levels have been linked with many unpleasant sounding conditions, including high blood pressure and diabetes. In early June, the journal Archives of Internal Medicine published a study of 18,255 men led by Harvard scientists that showed a connection between low vitamin D levels and heart attacks. Higher risks of obesity and several types of cancer have even been attributed to having low vitamin D levels.

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sunshine in demand

Lab tests for vitamin D levels have been requested and done all over the country since the benefits of the vitamin first strayed beyond bone health. Improving your levels of vitamin D shouldn’t be a big concern, since it ought to be an easy thing to do. Now that summer is here and the sun is blazing, stepping outside to soak in the ultraviolet is as easy as breathing. Inadequate levels of vitamin D can be caused by things like air pollution or being indoors too often, so getting enough vitamin D should also be a top priority during summer months. Anywhere below 20 nanograms per millilitre is considered an inadequate level of vitamin D, but just going outside to soak up some rays will fix all that!

Sources:
Archives of Internal Medicine
Toronto Star
CTV
CTV