A new study suggests that vitamin D deficiency may be linked to abnormalities of the heart’s electrical activity.
The observational study investigated a potential link between blood vitamin D concentrations of 5,108 participants and their electrocardiography (ECG) recordings, measuring the heart’s electrical activity, over 13 years (1). The study results showed that 5.9% of participants who had sufficient vitamin D levels (above 40 ng/ml) had ECG abnormalities, while eleven percent with insufficient levels (between 20 and 40 ng/ml) and 13% with vitamin D deficiency (less than 20 ng/ml) showed major ECG abnormalities. Participants who were vitamin D deficient had a 136% increased risk of having ECG major abnormalities.
The researchers commented that vitamin D deficiency may be an independent factor for predicting electrocardiography abnormalities, signs of heart disease. Vitamin D receptors are located throughout the heart, indicating that vitamin D plays a role in the functioning of the heart. Numerous mechanisms have been discovered for vitamin D’s role in heart health (2–4).