Vitamin D Prevents Heart Failure Deaths
The risk of heart failure rises with age. This heart disorder develops when the pumping function of the heart weakens. The different organs of the body are deprived of adequate volume of oxygenated blood to carry on their normal functions.
A person suffering from heart failure experiences edema, shortness of breath, dizziness and fatigue. Unfortunately, heart failure could not be cured. With medication and by limiting activities, physicians try to increase the lifespan of heart failure patients.
Vitamin D prevents heart failure death
Death in heart failure patients could not be prevented. However, in a recent study, researchers at the University of Medical Center in Groningen, Netherlands, have found that risk of hospitalization and death in heart failure patients might be reduced by increasing the level of vitamin D in the blood.
In the study, researchers had divided heart failure patients into three groups. In one group of patients, the vitamin D level was low, below 29.6 nanomoles per liter.
The second group had moderate vitamin D level in the blood, from 29.6 to 43.6 nanomoles per liter, and the third group’s vitamin D level was above 43.9 nanomoles per liter.
At the end of the 18-month study period, researchers observed that compared to heart failure patients with high vitamin D level, those with the lowest vitamin D level had 30 per cent higher risk of hospitalization and death.
How vitamin D prevents heart failure death
It is unclear how vitamin D affects the functioning of the heart. Health experts speculate that the anti-inflammatory property of vitamin D might prevent blood vessel damage.
Low levels of vitamin D increases production of C-reactive protein in the liver. Increase in C-reactive protein level is a sign of inflammation occurring throughout the body.
Researchers further believe that low vitamin D level in heart failure patients might also be the sign of some unknown damaging factor, which might be detrimental for the heart. In earlier studies, researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Murray, Utah, had found that vitamin D deficiency is linked to heart diseases.
Depending on the health condition and genetic risks of a person, consumption of 1000 to 5000 International Units of vitamin D a day might be beneficial for the heart.
