Study Links Sunshine Vitamin, Heart Health

(CBS)  Vitamin D is called the "sunshine vitamin," made when the rays of the sun are absorbed by the skin.

Doctors have known for years it's needed to prevent brittle bones, CBS News correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports.

Today's news: It could also prevent heart attacks.

A study followed 18,225 men over the age of 40 for 10 years. Those with a low Vitamin D level not only had more than double the risk of a heart attack - they appeared more likely to die from it.

"It does seem that Vitamin D levels seem to be real predictor of heart disease," said Dr. Edward Giovannucci, author of the Harvard School of Public Health study.

Research suggests that Vitamin D is important for blood vessel health and blood pressure control. Today's news comes on the heels of a study showing women with breast cancer do far worse if they have low Vitamin D levels when diagnosed.

The current recommendations for daily Vitamin D intake: 200 units until age 50, then 400 until age 70 - then 600.

That's not enough, according to the authors of today's study.

"We really need to increase the Vitamin D intake levels for most people," Giovannucci said. "We may need to go three to four times higher than what most people get currently."

While researchers are documenting more health problems associated with having low Vitamin D, they haven't yet proven increasing Vitamin D will treat them.

[iv-star]

<a href="http://allvitamin.co.cc/">vitamin - health</a>

[kerrjac2]

What I don''t understand about vitamin d research is that most of it is epidemiological and doesn''t account for confounds. For instance, if vitamin d levels are a function of being outdoors, then it makes sense to say that outdoorsy people are more healthy, not necessarily because of the vitamin d, but because of more activity. In the past, low vitamin d has been linked to schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis, and other conditions - most of which aren''t known to respond to vitamin d supplements. I don''t see how heart attacks are any different.

[gaye5]

Baileycc, you are so funny, of course it is missed by the cancer Society, we cant have people getting better you know, less money for the drug companies and Dr''s.. you are so funny, we cant have people getting better, that would mean less money for the drug companies and Dr''s...
People are starting to wake up to this rout.. The problem is that because they have experimented so much on us without our knowledge that a time will come when people will have so little trust in them that the good of Pharmaceutical products will also be ignored..

[gaye5]

I do wish that these guys would make up their mind, only on the 10 CBS news the headlines were ..
Doubts Cast On Vitamin Supplements
Can Some Do More Harm Than Good? How Much Is Too Much To Take?
June 7, 2008
Then it went on to say..
But The Early Show Saturday medical contributor Dr. Mallika Marshall explained that, when it comes to vitamins, too much of a good thing could be a bad idea and, with some supplements, doctors are coming to feel ANY dose may be ill-advised, with supplements pushing the dosage level into the risky range.

Well, I am of the belief that supplements dont seem to cause death unlike drugs and Dr''s being the 4 th cause of death in America.. So why should we believe those who are the 4th cause of death in America..
Anything that is consumed to much even tooo many carrots or juices are dangerous, and just like Drugs there are the odd person who goes over board and takes to many, but still unlike drugs we do not hear of deaths from taking supplements.. I have no doubt that like allergic reactions to food some people would have an allergic reaction to supplements..common sense comes into play there.

[baileyccc]

Vitamin D-3 is best for cancer prevention. I noticed that it was not mention in the article. This fact has gone unnoticed by the American Cancer Society while the Canadian Cancer Society has endorse the use of Vitamin D as a cancer prevention. 200 iu is just about worthless to the human body, someone in authority needs to step up to the plate and increase that number to over 1000 iu daily. Prevention seems not to be a priority with our medical community.

[rushlimpdrug]

Headline From CBS article yesterday:


"Doubts Cast On Vitamin Supplements"

[urbanoen]

You failed to mention that Vitamin D 3 is the sunshine vitamin and that the form needed is: Cholecalciferal. All forms of vitamin D are needed but in the winter especially D 3.

Urban Oen