(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Adding a vitamin D supplement to your daily
diet might not be a bad idea.
European researchers who reviewed 18 studies involving more than 57,000
people report those who took supplements of the "sunshine vitamin" had a
7-percent lower risk of dying. On average, people were followed for
about six years, and the average dose of vitamin D was 528 international
units per day.
The investigators aren't sure how vitamin D might be lowering the risk
of dying, but they speculate it could have something to do with the
vitamin's ability to inhibit the development of cancer or improve the
functioning of blood vessels or the immune system -- key factors in the
two leading causes of death in industrialized countries, cancer and
heart disease.
While many people, especially women suffering from osteoporosis or at
risk for the condition, take vitamin D in conjunction with calcium, the
review found similar benefits for vitamin D supplements taken alone and
those taken with calcium. This leads researchers to conclude it is,
indeed, vitamin D lowering the risk of death, not calcium.
The authors note other studies have shown mortality from common
conditions like cancer, heart disease and diabetes is higher in
locations farther away from the equator, where there is less sunshine
and, thus, lower exposure to vitamin D, than in places closer to the
equator. Other studies have concluded people are more likely to survive
these illnesses in the summer months than in the winter months. The
current findings for vitamin D supplementation support those results,
study authors write.
Writing in an accompanying editorial, Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Sc.D.,
of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, suggests doctors
should pay more attention to these types of studies. "Based on the total
body of evidence of health conditions associated with vitamin D
deficiency … a more proactive attitude to identify, prevent and treat
vitamin D deficiency should be part of standard medical care."
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2007;167:1730-1737
