In the , we informed you of the scientific challenges to the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin D. Now, two more doctors are promoting the positive health benefits of vitamin Dand warning of the dangers of having a deficiency of this essential nutrient.
John H. Lee, M.D., of Saint Lukes Mid America Heart Institute and the University of Missouri in Kansas City, said that people with a vitamin D deficiency face an increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease. And a whopping 57 percent of adults suffer from a deficiency in the United States alone!
In the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Lee and his colleagues said low levels of vitamin D can be linked to:
- Heart attack
- Heart failure
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Diabetes-related cardiovascular disease
- Blood vessel disease
- High blood pressure
- And more!
To further support these claims, John P. Forman, M.D., of Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, studied 1,484 healthy women. Forman and the researchers found that in those patients with the lowest levels of the protein that measures vitamin D in the blood, 66 percent of them had high blood pressure!
Forman and his colleagues are calling for more trials to demonstrate the health benefits of vitamin D supplementation on the reduction of blood pressure.
Formans findings were published in Hypertension.