05 August 2013
The link between low vitamin D levels and an increased risk of heart disease seems to vary depending on race and ethnicity, with a higher risk for white and Chinese people, reports a new US study.
The observational study measured the blood vitamin D concentrations of 6,436 men and women aged 45 to 84 and documented cases of cardiovascular disease events among them over a mean of eight years (1). The participants were 38% white, 28% black, 22% Hispanic, and 12% of Chinese ancestry. The study results showed that the average vitamin D level of each group was 30, 19, 25, 27 ng/ml, respectively. While a
10 ng/ml decrease in these vitamin D levels was associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease events in the white and ancestrally Chinese participants, this relationship was not seen among black or Hispanic participants.
The researchers commented that these findings suggest that the potential cardiovascular benefits of vita-
min D supplementation should be evaluated carefully across race and ethnicity. Moreover, the results would reinforce what is seen in medicine, which is a push toward personalized medicine to better understand what is happening at an individual level. The difference between the racial/ethnic groups would be most likely due to biological variations, specifically in vitamin D metabolism.
29 February 2012
A new study shows that 64% of 15 to 18-year-old girls in Saudi Arabia have low blood vitamin D concentrations, which is a cause for concern, given that there is currently no public health policy for vitamin D in the Kingdom.
1 October 2015
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common form of liver disease. The increasing prevalence of NAFLD in recent years is thought to be closely associated with similar rises in metabolic syndrome and obesity. There is no cure at present for NAFLD, but changes in eating habits can be beneficial, such as lowering your calorie intake, adhering to a Mediterranean diet, and consuming pre- and probiotics. Specifically, the antioxidant function of vitamin E when consumed in high doses appears to play a useful role in preventing further liver damage. Further, vitamin D has antifibrotic effects, which may prove an effective intervention in future NAFLD studies.
1 December 2015
In 2000, the USA Institute of Medicine (IoM) noted that the amount of vitamin E necessary to maintain the correct metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in cell membranes is related to the intake of PUFAs. A recent review by Raederstorff et al. examines in detail the relationship between PUFA intake and vitamin E requirement. The basal metabolic requirement of 3 to 4 mg/day α-tocopherol needs to be increased to 12.5 to 20 mg/day, just to balance out typical intakes of PUFAs in the Western diet.
