Vitamin D Could Reduce Heart Attack Risk

The mighty "sunshine vitamin" could reduce heart attacks

Dr. Douglass

More good news about vitamin D! Not long ago, I told you that the vitamin D you get from sunlight can help to battle cancer. Now there's yet another killer that this mighty "sunshine vitamin" can help to combat: heart attacks.

According to a new study, men with lower levels of vitamin D are two and a half times as likely to suffer a heart attack. Dr. Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard School of Public Health authored the study and said, "Those with low vitamin D, on top of just being at higher risk for heart attack in general, were at particularly high risk to have a fatal heart attack."

For 10 years, Dr. Edward Giovannucci studied nearly 500 health professionals between the ages of 40 to 75 who'd survived a heart attack. During the same period, he also studied about 1,000 other men who had no history of cardiovascular issues. What he found was that the men who consistently had low levels of vitamin D were the ones most at risk for heart ailments.

"Perhaps having these chronically low levels of vitamin D may be having these subtle physiological changes in a lot of tissues," Dr. Giovannucci said. He added that there are other ways vitamin D can defend against heart diseases: it might lower blood pressure, regulate inflammation, and or reduce respiratory infections in winter.

Of all the vitamins I'm always telling you to pump into your body, vitamin D is one of my all-time favorites. If you've been with me for some time, you already know the highlights of what it can d it prevents falls in the elderly, helps increase lung cancer survival, prevents multiple sclerosis, and helps treat steroid resistant asthma. I imagine the list is only going to get longer as time goes by and more research is done.

As for me, I need no further convincing. I'm heading outside right now.

One thing that is not mentioned here is the theory of association between chronic infection and microbial toxins being poisonous to the heart and circulatory tissue, and thus weakening it and predisposing the individual to cardiovascular disease.

As well as being anti-inflammatory, Vitamin D (25D) is well known to enhance the immune system. By obtaining more vitamin D3 (25D) you're allowing your body to create increasing levels of activated vitamin D (1,25D3) which are essential for producing the human cathelicidin LL-37, which has broad spectrum antimicrobial abilities in the body. It is capable of puncturing holes in pathogens and destroying them. Cathelicidins serve a critical role in mammalian innate immune defense against invasive bacterial infection.

In short, increasing your D levels will also provide you with better immunity against pathogens that could be involved in cardiovascular disease.

Below is yet another study (published June 3, 2008) that illustrates that D3 increases cathelicidin production in skin, and boosts keratinocyte's ability to destroy Staphylococcus aureus. Heard of MRSA?

1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D3 regulates cutaneous innate immune function