Vitamin D is heart-saving: According to a clinical study published in the British Medical Journal, vitamin D supplements can reduce the risk of serious cardiovascular events, such as heart attack, in people over the age of 60. The study was led by Rachel Neale of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Population Health Program, in Australia. This is the largest clinical trial of its type to date. In this work, the Australian researchers set themselves the goal of verifying whether taking monthly doses of vitamin D changes the rate of serious cardiovascular events.
The D-Health Trial was conducted from 2014 to 2020 and involved 21,315 Australians aged 60-84, who received a 60,000 IU vitamin D capsule (10,662 participants) or a placebo (10,653 participants) taken orally at the beginning of each month for up to 5 years. The data on hospital admissions and deaths was then used to identify cardiovascular events, including heart attacks, strokes and coronary revascularization (treatment to restore normal blood flow to the heart). The mean duration of treatment was 5 years. During the study, 1,336 participants experienced a serious cardiovascular event (6.6% in the placebo group and 6% in the vitamin D group).
The results of the study
The rate of serious cardiovascular events was 9% lower in the vitamin D group than in the placebo group (equivalent to 5.8 fewer events per 1,000 participants). The heart attack rate was 19% lower and the coronary revascularization rate was 11% lower in the vitamin D group, but there was no difference in the stroke rate between the two groups. The findings suggest that vitamin D supplementation may reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events. “This protective effect may be more pronounced in subjects taking statins or other cardiovascular drugs at baseline,” they add, and suggest the need for further evaluations to help clarify this.
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