Heart risks lower in men who get enough vitamin D: study

Tuesday, 28 June 2011 00:09 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

(Reuters Life!) - Men who consume the recommended amount of vitamin D are somewhat less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than those with low vitamin D, according to a U.S. study.

The study, which followed nearly 119,000 adults for two decades and was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that men who got at least 600 IU of vitamin D per day, the current recommended amount, were 16 percent less likely to develop heart problems or stroke than men who got less than 100 IUD per day.

But there was no such pattern among women, wrote lead research Qi Sun at the Harvard School of Public Health. “These observations suggest that a higher intake of vitamin D is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease in men but not in women,” Sun wrote. But Sun and the other authors said the findings don’t yet prove that vitamin D, which is found in fish, eggs, fortified milk and cod liver oil, deserves the credit for the lower risk found in men.

“The evidence is not strong enough yet to make solid recommendations,” Sun added.