- Vitamin D is an essential nutrient, and researchers are interested in how it helps in several health areas.
- One area of interest is how much vitamin D supplementation is required to achieve potential cardiac benefits.
- Initial analysis of clinical trials suggests that the current recommended dietary intake of vitamin D in the United States is too low to achieve optimal vitamin D levels for people with certain heart conditions.
- Future research in this area will determine whether achieving optimal vitamin D levels can reduce the risk of adverse cardiovascular events.
Research is ongoing into the health benefits of vitamin D. One area of interest is how vitamin D can help reduce the risk of heart disease.
Intermountain Health researchers are conducting ongoing clinical trials investigating this topic, and the first analysis has already been completed.
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In the next phase of the trial, researchers will examine whether optimal vitamin D levels are associated with a reduced risk of adverse cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke.
Vitamin D is an essential nutrient and contributes to proper bone function. Research is ongoing into how vitamin D promotes other areas of health, such as cardiovascular health.
but
Dr. Mary Green of the Manhattan Department of Cardiology in New York, a LabFinder contributor who was not involved in the current study, explained: Today’s medical news that “[m]There are no studies proving whether vitamin D supplementation can prevent serious adverse cardiovascular events. ”
She added:
“Several mechanisms have been proposed by which vitamin D may contribute to cardiovascular health. Healthy vitamin D levels promote glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity, promote vascular endothelial function, and improve blood pressure and Blood volume homeostasis is regulated and inflammation may be suppressed. Through these effects, vitamin D can help regulate the underlying dysfunctions that cause heart disease.”
Dr. Chen-Han Chen, medical director of the Structural Heart Program and a board-certified interventional cardiologist at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, California, who was not involved in the study, said: states. It is thought to be a possible risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, studies examining the effects of vitamin D supplementation have not found a clear benefit of vitamin D in preventing cardiovascular events. ”
“Past observational studies have linked lower vitamin D levels to an increased risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke. However, the reasons behind this association are not clear. Blood vessels “It has been hypothesized that vitamin D receptors on cells throughout the system are involved in vascular inflammation, which may in turn promote heart disease,” he elaborated.
Currently, the recommended dietary intakes for vitamin D are:
However, this may not be enough for people to reach adequate serum levels of vitamin D, according to the researchers who conducted the current clinical trial.
They suggest that participants in other studies were not given high enough doses of vitamin D to achieve a therapeutic response.
The authors of the current clinical trial wanted to better understand the optimal dosage to help people reach adequate vitamin D levels and whether it helps prevent adverse cardiovascular events. I was there.
The clinical trial, called TARGET-D, recruited 632 participants.All participants have experienced
The researchers then divided the participants into a vitamin D intervention group and a group receiving standard treatment. In addition to giving standard doses of vitamin D, the researchers took into account participants’ specific vitamin D levels and provided supplements as needed.
The first part of the analysis found that most participants required vitamin D supplementation to reach serum vitamin D levels of 40 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) or higher.
When determining the dose to give participants to reach this level, they found that 51% needed between 5,000 and 8,000 IU, much higher than the recommended dietary allowance. Additionally, 14.6% of participants required more than 10,000 IU to reach optimal vitamin D levels.
It also took longer for participants to reach their target vitamin D levels. Less than 65% of participants reached this level in their 3 months and 25% required 6 months of intervention to reach that level.
This result indicates that higher vitamin D doses are required to reach therapeutic levels in this group.
Study author Dr. Heidi May, a cardiovascular epidemiologist at Intermountain Health, explained some of the key elements of the clinical trial. MNT:
“TARGET-D is a randomized clinical trial evaluating whether blood vitamin D levels above 40 ng/mL reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes. This association has been previously demonstrated in observational studies. have been found, but randomized clinical studies are needed to determine if there is a causal relationship. We were not surprised that so many patients had levels [lower than or equal to] 40 ng/mL, but how much vitamin D supplement is needed to reach this level? ”
Initial analysis of vitamin D levels has been completed. This indicates that more vitamin D supplementation is required to reach certain therapeutic levels.
The next part of the study will help determine whether achieving vitamin D levels above 40 ng/mL in this group will help improve cardiovascular disease outcomes.
Therefore, it is unclear what the full limitations of the study will be. However, this study had a limited number of participants and future research may be needed. Some participants were unable to continue the vitamin D intervention, which may have affected some results.
Dr. May detailed some of the future elements of this clinical trial.
“If TARGET-D shows that vitamin D levels are achieved; [more than] 40 ng/mL reduces the risk of adverse cardiovascular events, so clinicians should be more aggressive in testing and treating low vitamin D levels. Completing TARGET-D is very important. We are currently following participants until sufficient events have occurred to determine whether treatment of hypovitaminosis D reduces cardiovascular disease outcomes compared to not actively treating hypovitaminosis D. We are making it possible to compare. ”
Researchers expect study data collection to be completed by May 2024.
