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Nutrition, Vitamins & Supplements for Seniors
Vitamin D Supplements Appear to Lower Death Risk
from Any Cause
Editorial: moderate sun exposure, food fortification
with vitamin D and higher-dose vitamin D supplements for adults need to
be debated
 Sept. 11, 2007 People who regularly take vitamin
D supplements appear to have a lower risk of death from any cause,
at least according to a study that followed the participants over six
years. This amazing finding is reported today in the Archives of
Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
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Past studies have suggested that deficiencies in
vitamin D might be associated with a higher risk of death from cancer,
heart disease and diabetes - illnesses that account for 60 percent to 70
percent of deaths in high-income nations.
"If the associations made between vitamin D and
these conditions were consistent, then interventions effectively
strengthening vitamin D status should result in reduced total
mortality," the authors write.
Philippe Autier, M.D., International Agency for
Research on Cancer, Lyon, France, and Sara Gandini, Ph.D., European
Institute of Oncology, Milano, Italy, searched for randomized controlled
trials of vitamin D supplements published before November 2006.
They analyzed 18 separate trials that included
57,311 participants and evaluated doses of vitamin D ranging from 300 to
2,000 international units, with an average dose of 528 international
units. Most commercially available supplements contain between 400 and
600 international units.
Over an average follow-up period of 5.7 years,
4,777 of the participants died.
Individuals who took vitamin D had a 7 percent
lower risk of death than those who did not. In the nine trials that
collected blood samples, those who took supplements had an average 1.4-
to 5.2-fold higher blood level of vitamin D than those who did not.
"Mechanisms by which vitamin D supplementation
would decrease all-cause mortality are not clear," the authors write.
Vitamin D could inhibit some mechanisms by which cancer cells
proliferate, or it may boost the function of blood vessels or the immune
system, they note.
"In conclusion, the intake of ordinary doses of
vitamin D supplements seems to be associated with decreases in total
mortality rates," the authors write.
"The relationship between baseline vitamin D
status, dose of vitamin D supplements and total mortality rates remains
to be investigated. Population-based, placebo-controlled randomized
trials in people 50 years or older for at least six years with total
mortality as the main end point should be organized to confirm these
findings."
Editorial: Vitamin D and Total Mortality
The meta-analysis "adds a new chapter in the
accumulating evidence for a beneficial role of vitamin D on health,"
writes Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Sc.D., of the Harvard School of Public
Health, Boston, in an accompanying editorial.
"Research on vitamin D should be continued to
clearly elucidate the specific benefits and optimal intakes and levels
of vitamin D," Dr. Giovannucci writes.
"Nonetheless, based on the total body of evidence
of health conditions associated with vitamin D deficiency, abetted with
the results from this meta-analysis, a more proactive attitude to
identify, prevent and treat vitamin D deficiency should be part of
standard medical care.
From a broader public health perspective, the
roles of moderate sun exposure, food fortification with vitamin D and
higher-dose vitamin D supplements for adults need to be debated."
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