Heart attack not curbed by vitamin D

Research to be published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that taking vitamin D tablets cannot prevent heart attack or stroke, though there is a chance supplements could help protect against heart failure in older people.

Researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) undertook human trials with more than 5,200 people aged 60 or over.

“There needs to be further research into whether a supplement could be beneficial

UEA researcher John Ford

Over the course of five years, some were given a vitamin D supplement, while others were given a placebo as part of a randomised test. The results suggest that taking vitamin D does not reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

UEA lead researcher John Ford told LaboratoryTalk that, in both the trial analysis and pooling together of all studies - which involved the combined data from 21 other randomised trials involving more than 13,000 people - they did not find any statistically significant difference between patients who took vitamin D and those who didn’t in relation to stroke or heart attack.

“Several observational studies have provided evidence that cardiovascular patients tend to have lower circulating concentrations of vitamin D but we have shown that this is not a causal relationship. Instead vitamin D levels may be a marker for other risk factors, such as a sedentary lifestyle,” Ford said.

Ford also suggested, however, that results did provide some evidence that the risk of dying from cardiac failure was lower among those taking a vitamin D supplement.

“There needs to be further research into whether a supplement could be beneficial,” Ford said.

Ford said the study is important because the previous studies have all been observational, whereas the UEA study has only included randomised controlled trials.

“This means that we can see causation rather than just association,” Ford said.

A full acount of the study can be found here.