Daily Health News Blog

This vitamin protects the heart. It controls the release of stress hormones that lead to  high blood pressure and inflammation. It can decrease the risk of colon cancer by half. A  study of post-menopausal women showed a 77 percent lower risk of all cancers among  those who took 1,000 mg of D plus calcium.  The role of vitamin D in bone health has been proven for some time, making the vitamin an  important factor in preventing osteoporosis. According to the National Institutes of Health, vitamin D-fortified orange juice has joined  the short list of foods and beverages that contain vitamin D. This is good news for people  who don't drink much milk.  Vitamin D helps to prevent falls in older adults. While exercise is important in fall  prevention, vitamin D is more important.  Vitamin D is best known as essential for calcium uptake and the prevention of disease in  childhood. Since it was added to milk, rickets has largely disappeared.  Vitamin D could be a facto

      Although no one knows what causes osteoarthritis (the breakdown of joint cartilage), there is new evidence linking low levels of vitamin D with the progress of the disease.       Research reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that people with osteoarthritis of the knee, who also had low vitamin D levels, were three times more likely to have a worsened condition over a period of years than those whose intake was adequate.       Researchers suspect that low levels of the vitamin harm the repair mechanism in bone. Although osteoarthritis has long been seen as a disease of cartilage, scientists now believe that changes in bone also play a role in its progression.       People with osteoarthritis of the knee who have low blood levels of D could benefit from increased dietary intake and exposure to sunlight. Good sources of vitamin D include milk, fatty fish, fish liver oils, and egg yolks.

Vitamin D Levels Could Play Role in Heart Disease, Diabetes Risk "High levels of vitamin D among middle-age and elderly populations are associated with a substantial decrease in cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome," said Dr. Oscar Franco of the Health Sciences Research Institute in the United Kingdom. Dr. Franco is a lead author of a systematic review and meta-analysis that looked at the association between blood levels of vitamin D and cardiometabolic disorders, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Twenty-eight studies giving data on 99,745 participants across a variety of ethnic groups including men and women were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis published in the journal Maturitas. After analyzing the 28 studies researchers found that the highest blood levels of vitamin D were associated with a 33% reduction in the risk of developing CVD, a 55% reduction in the risk of developing