Vitamin D deficiency
- From: MarilynMann <mannm@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2007 05:25:12 -0700
7 June 2007
Vitamin D boost for heart health
The lack of winter sunlight for Scots - and other northern European
nationalities - could be a factor in the country's high rates of heart
disease, new research at the University of Dundee has found.
A research team led by Professor Allan Struthers, head of the Division
of Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Dundee Medical
School, found that a dose of vitamin D in wintertime improved blood
vessel function, which should in turn decrease the incidence of new
heart attacks
The findings will be presented to delegates at the British
Cardiovascular Society annual scientific conference in Glasgow today
(Thursday June 7th).
Vitamin D is naturally produced by the skin in response to sunlight.
In wintertime in countries like Scotland, the relative lack of
sunlight means the skin produces virtually none of the vitamin.
"Some of the things we already know about heart disease is that it is
more common in northern latitudes, and that deaths from heart disease
are more prevalent in winter than summer," said Professor Struthers.
"There may be lots of reasons for this, but one thing which our
research suggests could be important is that vitamin D deficiency is
very common over the winter season in Scotland."
The Diabetes UK funded pilot study - initiated by Dr Justine Davies
from the University's Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Dr Miles
Witham, Lecturer in Ageing & Health - was carried out over the winter
of 2005/6 among Tayside patients with Type 2 diabetes.
Half of the patients taking part in the trial were given a single high
dose of vitamin D and were found months later to have improved
vascular function as measured by the standard technique of flow
mediated dilatation . Vitamin D produced no adverse effects.
"This is the beginning of something as it now needs wider study, which
is already being initiated by Dr Witham here in Dundee," said
Professor Struthers.
"Of the routine diabetic patients that we surveyed in Tayside, 50%
were vitamin D deficient in winter. That figure rises to 70% to 80% in
patients with heart failure or strokes and we now need to see if
Vitamin D benefits those patients also."
"We would express a note of caution because obviously exposure to
sunlight carries other risks including skin cancer, so there is a
balance that would need to be struck. The safer solution in this case
may be a vitamin D replacement tablet rather than overdosing on
sunlight, which we would not recommend."
The Dundee study has been funded by Diabetes UK.
* * *
I know you people aren't going to be impressed with a study that used
FMD as an endpoint. If they can show an effect on clinical endpoints
that really would be something.
Marilyn
.
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