Medical Information about Vitamin D and Cardiovascular
Vitamin D deficiency and low estrogen levels increase the risk of cardiovascular
Deficiencies in vitamin D and low estrogen levels are independent risk factors for hardening and narrowing of the arteries and weakened bones, according to a study by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions has been made public during the annual meeting of the American Heart Association to be held these days in Orlando (USA).
The study is the first evidence that men long-term adverse effects of vitamin D deficiency are amplified by lower levels of estrogen but not testosterone.
Vitamin D is essential for maintaining a healthy body and can be obtained through fortified foods like milk and cereal and through exposure to sunlight. The blood levels below 20 nanograms per milliliter or less of vitamin D are considered harmful to health.
Explains Erin Michos, Study, “Our results confirm a link long suspected and suggested that vitamin D supplements, which are prescribed to treat osteoporosis, might also help to prevent heart disease.”
In men in the study hormone levels were measured in two ways in testosterone and estrogen in the blood when circulating free or when bound to a protein known as binding globulin or SHBG sex hormone, as its acronym in English.
Initial results showed no link between vitamin D deficiency and reduced levels of these hormones in blood. Moreover, despite discovering a damaging relationship between low testosterone levels and rates of heart disease, stroke and hypertension and osteopenia in men, researchers found that this was independent of the deficiencies in vitamin D.
However, when the researchers compared rates of estrogen to the levels of SHBG found that rates of both diseases, particularly osteopenia, the early stage of osteoporosis was higher when both estrogen and vitamin D were low.
For each unit less in rates of estrogen and SHBG, men with low vitamin D showed an 89 percent increased osteopenia but those with sufficient levels of vitamin D had a 64 per cent. Using the same measure estrogen levels, men with low vitamin D also had an increased risk of cardiovascular disease by 12 percent, compared with those with adequate levels of vitamin A 1 percent.
“These findings reinforce the message of how important adequate amounts of vitamin D for bone health and the risk of a man of osteoporosis and heart disease depends on a complex interaction among the possible deficiencies in vitamins and sex hormones, in particular estrogen, “concludes Michos.
http://www.vitaminD3world.com is a good website for information on vitamin D. the site also has links to a very neat new micro tablet formulation of vitamin D