[ad_1]
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, June 19, 2019 (HealthDay News) – If you're looking to improve your heart health, exercise regularly and eat healthy foods can certainly help, but new research indicates that not consuming a daily vitamin supplement D will not do it.
The research – a meta-analysis of 21 randomized clinical trials involving more than 83,000 people – found no decrease in the number of major cardiovascular events in people taking vitamin D supplements. There was also no decrease in the rate of heart attack. No gout in the shot. No gout in death from any cause
"Vitamin D supplementation has shown no cardiovascular benefit," said Dr. Mahmoud Barbarawi, lead author of the study. He is chief resident of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Hurley Medical Center at Michigan State University in Flint.
"There are many things people can do to reduce cardiovascular risk – exercise regularly, eat healthy, stop smoking and control high blood pressure. [high blood pressure] and diabetes. However, it is not recommended to take vitamin D supplements in order to reduce cardiovascular risk, "Barbarawi said.
Previous studies had shown that people who suffered a heart attack, stroke, heart failure and death from heart disease also had low levels of vitamin D. The researchers said that there are biological reasons plausible to believe that vitamin D levels could affect the health of the heart and blood vessels. For example, some researchers have noted that some blood vessel muscles have vitamin D receptors.
To get a clear idea of how much vitamin D might protect the heart, the investigators looked at nearly two dozen randomized clinical trials. More than 41,000 people in these trials took vitamin D supplements, and another 41,000 took an inactive placebo.
The average age of the study participants was 66, and three quarters of the study volunteers were women.
The vitamin D levels of the study participants varied according to the trials, Barbarawi said. The dose of vitamin D supplements administered also varied greatly, as did the duration of the studies.
Barbarawi said researchers were surprised to find that vitamin D supplements did not seem to have any effect on major heart problems, strokes or death.
Continued
"We think that a low vitamin D content is a marker of some kind of underlying disease, but that does not mean that if we treat a low vitamin D it will protect the heart" , he explained.
But if people lack vitamin D (less than 12 ng / mL), it is still important to treat this deficiency, especially for bone health, Barbarawi added.
The results of the study were published online on June 19 in JAMA Cardiology.
Dr. Arshed Quyyumi, co-author of an editorial accompanying the study, agreed that anyone with vitamin D deficiency should take a supplement to prevent bone-related problems.
Quyyumi also agreed that there appeared to be no reason to take vitamin D supplements to prevent cardiovascular disease. He said that it is likely that other factors explain the link between heart disease and vitamin D levels.
For example, said Quyyumi, it's possible that sedentary people are showing signs of cardiovascular disease and Low vitamin D content. Not only would these people not practice a heart-healthy exercise, but they would also not be exposed to the sun through physical activity on the outside resulting in the body's production of vitamin D.
Quyyumi said that if you took vitamin D supplements for heart disease, the low doses did not seem to have any harmful effects. But, since there seems to be no benefit to the heart, you can save money by avoiding supplements.
The two experts said that other studies would be helpful, especially in people with vitamin D deficiency. Barbarawi said it would also be beneficial to conduct broader studies specifically focused on how the different vitamin levels affect race, gender and ethnicity.
[ad_2]
Source link
