Vitamin D Protects Your Heart

A new study has linked a lack of sunshine, the body's most natural source of vitamin D, to the prevalence of cardiovascular disease.

Factors that affect sunlight, and therefore vitamin D production, are tied to a patient's cardiovascular risks. In other words, the more sunlight you get, the better your cardiovascular health will be. These factors can include time of year, altitude, and geographical location.

There are a number of physiological mechanisms triggered by vitamin D production through sunlight exposure that act to fight heart disease, according to the study:

• An increase in the body's natural anti-inflammatory cytokines.
• The suppression of vascular calcification.
• The inhibition of vascular smooth muscle growth.

Abstract:

The aetiology of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is still not completely understood. The present review article summarizes data supporting the hypothesis that an insufficient vitamin D status may contribute to the worldwide high prevalence of CVD. Human vitamin D status primarily depends on skin exposure to the UVB spectrum of the sunlight. Epidemiological data indicate that geographic latitude, altitude, season, and the place of residence (urban or rural) are associated with CVD mortality. Interestingly, all these factors also have an influence on human UVB exposure and thus on vitamin D status.

Several mechanisms might be responsible for a protective role of vitamin D in cardiovascular disease. These mechanisms include the inhibition of vascular smooth muscle proliferation, the suppression of vascular calcification, the down regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, the up regulation of anti-inflammatory cytokines, and the action of vitamin D as a negative endocrine regulator of the renin-angiotensin system. The first intervention trials indicate that vitamin D may suppress cardiovascular risk markers. However, more controlled clinical trials are needed to investigate whether optimal oral vitamin D supplementation is able to reduce CVD morbidity and mortality.

Source

Armin Zittermann; Stefanie S. Schleithoff; Reiner Koerfer. Putting cardiovascular disease and vitamin D insufficiency into perspective. British Journal of Nutrition October 2005; 94(4): 483-492.

Key concepts: Vitamin D, CVD, cardiovascular disease