12 January 2010
A new US study suggests that vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and peripheral vascular disease.
In the study, a large data base of medical records was analyzed to determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and the relation of vitamin D levels to prevalence and incidents of cardiovascular risk factors and diseases, including mortality (1). The results showed that 63.6% of the 41,504 patients (averaged 55 ± 21 years old) had a vitamin D deficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D serum concentrations lower than 30 nanograms per ml), with only minor differences according to gender or age. Vitamin D deficiency was associated with highly significant increases in the chance of developing cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, elevated lipid concentrations in blood (“hyperlipidemia”), and a vascular disease affecting the arteries outside the heart and brain (“peripheral vascular disease”). The vitamin D levels were also highly associated with coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke, as well as with incident death.
The researchers concluded that their observations have confirmed a high number of vitamin D deficient people in the general population and an association between insufficient vitamin D levels and an increased risk of developing cardiovascular risk factors and diseases. Given the ease of vitamin D measurement and readily available vitamin D supplements, clinical trials should urgently take place to determine whether these findings represent a causal association.
Experts commented that the study results indicate that vitamin D therapy could also be effective in preventing vascular events in the brain such as stroke (2). Hence, in the current clinical practice, the established and proposed multiple health benefits of vitamin D supplementation should be considered. Moreover, it should be bared in mind that patients at high risk of vitamin D deficiency itself and vitamin D deficiency-associated diseases might particularly benefit from the prevention and treatment of a poor vitamin D status.
5 March 2013
The Norway Food Safety Authority (NFSA) has stated that the daily recommended intake (RDI) of vitamin D should be doubled from 10 to 20 micrograms per day for the entire population.
8 August 2014
According to a new review, policy efforts to increase fruit and vegetable consumption across the developed world have resulted in modest gains and largely fallen short in impacting long-term dietary habit.
1 September 2013
Skin possesses the lifelong ability to renew itself, but as we age this process takes longer. Between the ages of 20 and 50 the rate of skin cell renewal gradually slows, and after the age of 50 it slows ever faster. The surface layer of the skin, the epidermis, becomes thinner and can store less water. In the dermis, or true skin, production of the collagen that supports and firms the skin declines. Menopause in women, during which the body reduces estrogen production, causes a further loss of firmness and elasticity. Environmental factors like UV radiation have a major impact, accelerating the decomposition of collagen and encouraging the formation of aggressive oxygen compounds that can damage skin cells from the membrane to the DNA. The subcutaneous layer of fat and loose connective tissue becomes thinner. At the same time, the supply of nutrients and energy to the skin deteriorates. It is therefore important to support the health of aging skin with a sufficient supply of micronutrients.
