Vitamin D has been long regarded as a bone-strengthening agent, which in combination with calcium, can protect against osteoporosis. According to current studies, the sun vitamin fulfils many other functions, among other things, as an effective protection of our vessels.
Protecting our pipeline
The vessels are like pipelines in the body. The arteries take the blood from the heart to the distant regions of the body, and the veins pump it back from the periphery to the heart. Healthy blood vessels are important for the functioning blood circulation, but their efficiency decreases with the years. The less healthy you live, the more the risk increases, particularly due to overweight, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and blood fat levels. In Austria, more than one and a half million people suffer from vascular disease.
Dangerous vessel deposits
Recent studies show that the intake of nutrients and vitamins plays a role in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular diseases originate from the vascular system and/or the heart. All of them are caused by pathological changes or deposits on the vessels, atherosclerosis. These include high blood pressure, heart attack or carotid stenosis, the pathological narrowing of the carotid artery. The latter is one of the most common causes of a stroke.
A low vitamin D3 level increases the risk of vascular disease.
In the Northern Manhattan Study, conducted by Columbia University in New York, different blood parameters were measured and analyzed in more than 200 subjects between 50 and 93 years of age, including calcium, phosphorus, calcidiol and calcitriol (vitamin D3 levels). In addition, an ultrasound of the carotid artery was performed. It was found that low vitamin D3 levels in those affected were associated with carotid deposits.
The sun vitamin for elastic vessels
Another recent study also confirmed the negative effects of vitamin D deficiency on the heart and blood vessels: In the 554 subjects examined at the medical faculty of Emory University in Atlanta in the USA, a vitamin D deficit was associated with reduced vascular elasticity irrespective of traditional risk factors such as smoking. Normalization of vitamin D3 levels led to an improvement in microcirculation and vascular elasticity in 42 study participants after 6 months, and mean arterial blood pressure had also decreased.
In the cool season add vitamin D3
In many regions, the body produces insufficient vitamin D during the cool and cold season due to the lack of sunshine. For this reason, it is recommended that one have a supplemental intake through the months from October to May.
Unlike previous recommendations, the dose should be at least 1,000 I.U. vitamin D daily. This dose is considered ideal to achieve the correct level of calcidiol in blood serum of 32-64 ng/ml or 75-160 nmol/ml as a preventive measure. This preventive measure could reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
More information on sun vitamin D can be found in the review article and in articles on its use against asthma, high blood pressure, menstrual pain or testosterone deficiency.
