Vitamin D at high levels increases susceptibility to death

Vitamin D is very important for bone strength and the deficiency of which results in impaired bone mineralization and bone damage leading to bone-softening diseases. Body can synthesize this vitamin from freely available sunlight. However the risk of skin cancer due to exposure to sunlight leads to the deficiency of Vitamin D. Several studies showed that extremely low levels of this Vitamin can prove detrimental to our health.

Doctors prescribe supplements for the Vitamin D deficienct patients which lead to aberrant levels of Vitamin D in some patients. But the level of Vitamin D in our blood should neither be too high nor too low. For the first time, scientists from the University of Copenhagen showed a connection between high levels of Vitamin D and cardiovascular deaths. Their study shows that extremely high levels of Vitamin D in our blood is connected to an increased risk of dying from a stroke or heart disease.

“We have studied the level of Vitamin D in 247,574 Danes, and so far, it constitutes the world’s largest basis for this type of study. We have also analysed their mortality rate over a 7-year period after taking the initial blood sample, and in that time 16,645 patients had died. Furthermore, we have looked at the connection between their deaths and their levels of Vitamin D”, Professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine and physician at Glostrup Hospital, Peter Schwarz, explains. The findings were published in the world-renowned Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism. The study confirms that there is indeed a correlation between mortality rates and low or high levels of Vitamin D.

“If your Vitamin D level is below 50 or over 100 nanomol per litre, there is a greater connection to deaths. We have looked at what caused the death of patients, and when numbers are above 100, it appears that there is an increased risk of dying from a stroke or a heart condition. In other words, levels of Vitamin D should not be too low, but neither should they be too high. Levels should be somewhere in between 50 and 100 nanomol per litre, and our study indicates that 70 is the most preferable level“, Peter Schwartz states. This study greatly influences the future of nutritional supplements intake and manufacture.

      Image: Vitamin D (http://bit.ly/1GfdN9s)

“These are very important results, because there is such great focus on eating Vitamin D. We should use this information to ask ourselves whether or not we should continue to eat vitamins and nutritional supplements as if they were sweets. You shouldn’t simply up the dose to feel better. We should only consume such vitamins in close coordination with our GP”, Peter Schwartz concludes.

Original article can be accessed here.