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Vitamin D Shortage is More Predictive of a Future Heart Attack than High Cholesterol |
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Knowledge of Health, Inc. June 1, 2008
D-bomb is about to drop. A major study is about to be published showing low vitamin D levels are far more predictive for a future mortal heart attack than high cholesterol. There may not be enough vitamin D pills in the world to handle consumer demand once the results of this study are published. This report will also add to the growing realization that cholesterol is not a meaningful risk factor for coronary heart disease. With all the efforts to reduce cholesterol by dietary and medicinal measures, the number of mortal heart attacks remains about the same every year. A recently published prospective longitudinal study already demonstrates that individuals with vitamin D (25(OH)D) levels below 37.5 nanomole/liter have a multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio of 1.62 for incident cardiovascular events compared with those with 25(OH)D levels of 37.5 nmol/liter or greater. That’s a 62% increase in risk. A study shows almost half of the British have vitamin D levels below 40 nmol/liter. [Aging Health 4: 99-100, April 2008] Millions are at undue risk which can be reduced significantly by food fortification or vitamin D pills. Two leading vitamin D researchers, John Cannell MD and Bruce W. Hollis PhD, claim that consumption of 2,000-7,000 IU (500-175 micrograms) vitamin D3 per day of supplemental vitamin D3 should be sufficient to maintain year-round 25(OH)D levels, which is 5 to 17 times greater than the recommended daily allowance (but only equivalent to about 10-45 minutes of total-body summer sun exposure). [Alternative Medicine Review 13: 6-20, March 2008] With the startling recent report published in Business Week Magazine that statin cholesterol-lowering drugs appear to be nearly worthless for healthy adults, and only prevent one non-mortal heart attack for every high-risk 70 statin drug users, it is a wonder that doctors and patients keep taking these liver-toxic pills. There is vanishing science to substantiate the use of statin drugs and researchers now claim whatever health benefits emanate from statin drugs appear to be unrelated to cholesterol and attributed to the ability of statin drugs to modestly raise vitamin D levels! [American Journal Cardiology 99: 903-05, 2007] Millions of adults are dying needlessly while cardiologists keep the cholesterol charade going, a travesty that will likely continue till the patient on the most popular cholesterol-lowering drug, Lipitor, expires in 2010. Public health authorities, including the FDA and the American Heart Association, certainly know all this, but continue to support cholesterol-lowering guidelines, all the while ignoring the need to fortify foods with adequate nutrients. Oddly, patients who take statin drugs appear to be oblivious to the muscle aches and memory problems they commonly experience and are likely to be inappropriately placed on drugs for arthritis or Alzheimer’s disease. –Copyright 2008 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc. |
