News
New breath test to detect vitamin B12 deficiency
28 June 2011
US research team has developed a simple, non-invasive, low-cost breath test which can more accurately measure vitamin B12 status.
16 December 2011
According to a new US study, vitamin D supplementation may be associated with an increased survival rate, specifically in cardiovascular patients with documented deficiency.
In the observational cohort study, blood vitamin D concentrations, vitamin D supplement use and survival rate were analyzed in 10,899 cardiovascular patients (mean age 58 years) for five years and eight months (1). The study results showed that about 70% of the patients were vitamin D deficient (levels below
30 ng/ml). Vitamin D deficiency was associated with several cardiovascular-related diseases, including hypertension, coronary artery disease and diabetes. In addition, vitamin D deficiency was a strong independent predictor of all-cause mortality after adjusting for multiple clinical variables. Vitamin D supplementation improved survival overall, but only to a significant degree in deficient patients. The dose and duration of vitamin D supplementation were not analyzed.
The researchers concluded that vitamin D deficiency may be associated with a significant risk of cardiovas-cular disease and reduced survival. Vitamin D supplementation seems to be significantly associated with better survival, and particularly in patients with deficiency.
A growing body of evidence has identified vitamin D deficiency as a potential widespread risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Recent evidence supports an association of vitamin D deficiency with hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, coronary artery disease, and heart failure (2, 3). Although epidemiologic evidence for an association between vitamin D deficiency and several cardiovascular diseases is strong, studies investigating the effect of vitamin D supplementation on patient survival have had inconsistent results (4, 5).
28 June 2011
US research team has developed a simple, non-invasive, low-cost breath test which can more accurately measure vitamin B12 status.
24 February 2011
Folic acid may be effective in the primary prevention of ischemic heart disease when aspirin is not taken routinely, a new UK study suggests.
6 June 2014
A new US study says that increased intakes of vitamin C by women who smoke during pregnancy seem to improve measures of lung function for their newborns and decrease the incidence of wheezing for their infants through one year.