Vitamin D Deficiency and health issue updated July 2020NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Apr 28 - Lower vitamin D levels and higher C-reactive protein levels are associated with poor aerobic capacity and greater frailty in elderly patients with heart failure, according to findings published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.
The authors note that interventions geared toward raising vitamin D and lowering CRP levels in heart failure patients are possible, but "it remains unclear whether vitamin D therapy has a role in the management of elderly patients with HF." If it is shown that "vitamin D therapy improves physical performance and modulates the inflammatory response, this could become an attractive therapy for patients with HF."
J Am Geriatr Soc 2008;56:454-461
2011 — New research linking low vitamin D levels with deaths from heart disease and cancer causes, bolsters mounting evidence about the "sunshine" vitamin's role in good health. Scientists have known for ages about vitamin D's role in helping the body absorb calcium, in maintaining bone density, and in preventing osteoporosis
Patients with the lowest blood levels of vitamin D were about four times more likely to die from any cause during the next eight years than those with the highest levels, the study found. The link with heart-related deaths was particularly strong in those with low vitamin D levels.
In another study a link has been found about high blood pressure and vitamin-D deficiency.
Low sexual activity and poor physical performance are linked to vitamin-D deficiency.
For one thing, megadoses of vitamin D pills can help avoid the dangerous diseases and reduce risks of heart disease easily from too much sunshine is well-known.
Low vitamin D levels could reflect age, lack of physical activity and other lifestyle factors detailed below that also affect health, said American Heart Association spokeswoman Alice Lichtenstein, director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University.
The study led by Austrian researchers involved 3,258 men and women in southwest Germany. Participants were aged 62 on average, most with heart disease, whose vitamin D levels were checked in weekly blood tests. During roughly eight years of follow-up, 737 died, including 463 from heart-related problems.
The synthesis of Vitamin D, know also as calcitrol
Study after study of nursing home populations, of nursing mothers, of healthy male and female volunteers and of various children's groups have consistently documented how relatively rare it is to have optimal levels of Vitamin D.
A vitamin D precursor is synthesized in the skin from cholesterol in response to absorbing UVB rays. It then gets converted in the liver to an intermediate form. In the kidneys it joins with an important enzyme for conversion into its active hormonal form.
Many factors potentially interfere with the UVB conversion. People having darker skins are much more likely to have vitamin D deficiency. The aged skin of the elderly impairs cholesterol conversion as does the presence of obesity Use of statins lowers vitamin-D.
Without any sun exposure you need about 4,000 units of vitamin D a day. In the absence of other supplements you would need 40 glasses of milk or ten multi-vitamins capsules daily to supply your vitamin D needs. Most of us make about 20,000 units of vitamin D after 20 minutes of summer sun due to UVB conversion of cholesterol. Numerous studies document that the majority of our society falls short of meeting either their dietary of UVB conversion needs for vitamin D. Increse in skin pigment reduces the production of Vitamin -D and sunscreen has the same effect.
Cholesterol must be available in our bodies in amounts sufficient to allow UVB conversion to vitamin D. We are all genetically blessed with a natural level of cholesterol. What is natural for one person may be completely inadequate for another. Into this heterogenous pool we dump statins indiscriminately in a misguided attempt to bring ' natural level of cholesterol down to some artificially low level. Need I add that eight of the nine people making the 2004 cholesterol guidelines were subsidized one way or another by the statin drug manufacturer?
After studying global data from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, researchers have discovered a strong correlation between severe vitamin D deficiency and mortality rates.Led by Northwestern University, the research team conducted a statistical analysis of data from hospitals and clinics across China, France, Germany, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States. The researchers noted that patients from countries with high COVID-19 mortality rates, such as Italy, Spain and the UK, had lower levels of vitamin D compared to patients in countries that were not as severely affected.