The Importance of Vitamin D and the Dangers of Vitamin D Deficiency - Part 3

PART 3: What Are The Risks Of Vitamin D Deficiency?


In Part 2, I discussed the level of circulating vitamin D needed by the body to achieve optimal health, as well as the amount you should strive to get from a nutritional supplement. In Part 3 today, I will discuss the risks of not achieving desired levels...or the risks of a vitamin D deficiency.

You might be wondering how many people have a vitamin D deficiency. Unfortunately, our nation is in the midst of realizing that over 90% of the population is seriously deficient in vitamin D. This is the reason I chose to discuss the importance of vitamin D and the risks of not getting enough, or becoming vitamin D deficient.

When people discussed vitamin D half a century ago, the conversation was typically around the nutritional deficiency called rickets. Rickets is a condition that leads to softening and weakening of the bones and was more of a common occurence at that time. Rickets is rare in the United States today. What we have learned since then is that there are other illnesses we need to worry about today with our current vitamin D levels, even if those levels are enough to avoid the problem of rickets. Today you can still be deficient in vitamin D even if you don't have rickets, and a vitamin D deficiency can raise the risk of numerous degenerative diseases. In fact, a February 2006 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that vitamin D deficiency may account for several thousand premature deaths annually.

So is a vitamin D deficiency related to heart disease? This is an important question to answer since the 2003 WHO World Health Report listed total world deaths from all heart diseases at 16.7 million. To answer that question we need to look at recently published clinical and epidemiological studies.

One recent study done by the American College of Cardiology details the risk of developing cardiovascular disease (which includes both heart attacks and strokes) in patients who have vitamin D deficiencies. They point out that vitamin D deficiency can lead to high blood pressure and thickening of the heart and blood vessels. "Vitamin D deficiency is an unrecognized, emerging cardiovascular risk factor, which should be screened for and treated,” stated study co-author Dr. James O’Keefe. You want to have your physician run a 25-Hydroxy vitamin D level on your blood and you want that level to be between 40 and 60.

Another study published in September 2008 revealed that for every small decrease in blood levels of vitamin D there was a startling 86% increase in fatal strokes. The researchers concluded that low levels of 25-Hydroxy vitamin D levels are independently predictive of fatal strokes and they suggest that vitamin D supplementation is a promising approach in the prevention of strokes.

A third study published in the journal "Circulation" showed that low levels of vitamin D may increase the risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attack, heart failure, or stroke. And, those with both hypertension and low vitamin D levels had nearly double the risk of cardiovascular problems.

And finally, a report published in the "Archives of Internal Medicine" on June 11th, 2007 added more evidence in the link of low vitamin D levels and heart disease. These researchers measured the 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D levels in over 15,000 women. Those women who had the lowest levels of vitamin D had significantly higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and elevated triglyceride levels (the other fat in the blood other than cholesterol). These are all risk factors for heart disease and strokes.

So hopefully you see the link between vitamin D deficiency and heart disease, but what about its link to cancer? This is health enemy #2 as cancer was responsible for 7.6 million deaths (according to the World Health Organization in 2005). To answer that question we again need to look at recently published clinical and epidemiological studies.

In a July 2008 study published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition", research showed a correlation between vitamin D levels and various stages of breast cancer development.

In a November 2007 study published in the the journal "Preventive Medicine", research revealed that low serum vitamin D may be associated with an increased incidence of endometrial cancer.

And in a four-year study published in June 2007 in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition", researchers at Creighton University in Nebraska discovered that those randomly assigned to take calcium and vitamin D and who had higher levels of both in their blood were 77% less likely to develop cancer after the first year compared to those taking placebos or calcium alone.

So there is a strong correlation between vitamin D deficiency and cancer.

You may also be interested in knowing there are strong correlations between vitamin D deficiency and the following:

* A five-fold increased risk of preeclampsia in pregnant mothers;
* An increased risk of poor long-term bone health in the children of pregnant mothers;
* An increase in knee pain and a decrease in mobility in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee;
* A decrease in physical performance and grip strength;
* Those residents who live in areas with chronic sun exposure...i.e southern populations. (NOTE: It is well-established that vitamin D deficiency is very common among northern populations.)

I hope I've helped you to understand some of the risks of vitamin D deficiency. The risks are many and can pose a serious threat to your health. My advice is two-fold: (1) Ensure you are spending 15-30 minutes in the sun every day when the sun is high in the sky. Sunlight is your principal source of vitamin D; and (2) If you haven't already, start supplementing with vitamin D (but make absolutely sure it is manufactured to pharmaceutical-grade standards so you know what you are getting). If you need help selecting the right one, please let me know. This concludes my three-part series on vitamin D. If you have any questions about anything mentioned in my three-part discussion, please don't hesitate to ask. There are several ways to contact me on my page.