Researchers associate low levels of vitamin D with CAD, stroke, heart failure.

Moral of the story: There is a link between the chronic, prevalent low vitamin D levels in the US and all those cardiovascular problems. It may be a tough balance between skin cancer and vitamin D, but the importance of the vitamin D is becoming more clear.

Source: AMA Morning Rounds 11/17/09

Researchers associate low levels of vitamin D with CAD, stroke, heart failure.

The New York Times (11/16, Rabin) "Well" blog reported that, according to research presented Nov. 16 at the American Heart Association conference, "Americans aren't getting anywhere nearly enough of" vitamin D, "and it may be affecting their heart health." After examining data on 27,686 "healthy adults 50 and older whose vitamin D levels had been measured during routine checkups," researchers found that "those who had extremely low levels of the vitamin were almost twice as likely to have died or suffered a stroke than those with adequate amounts." In addition, they "had more coronary artery disease and were twice as likely to have developed heart failure." HealthDay (11/16, Preidt) and CNN (11/17, Mann) also cover the study.