How vitamin D deficiency can increase heart disease risk
Vitamin D is one of the most important nutrients for maintaining healthy bones and muscles, as it helps in the absorption of calcium and phosphorus. And it also plays a fundamental role in supporting healthy immune function, promoting mental health and reducing the risk of allergies and pregnancy related complications for both mother and child. Severe vitamin D deficiency can result in poor bone density, causing osteomalacia in adults (softening of bones) and rickets in children. Chronic deficiency is also known to worsen the symptoms of and even trigger the onset and progression of many health conditions such as thyroid disorder, asthma, upper respiratory tract infections, depression, dementia, diabetes and autoimmune disorders.
Given it has such a broad role in influencing your health, it is not surprising that vitamin D deficiency can also impact your heart health. What is the relationship between Vitamin D and heart disease? In this blog, let's explore the effects of vitamin D on heart health and find out if vitamin D deficiency can increase your risk of developing heart disease. [1-3]
Vitamin D and Heart Disease: A Vital Relationship
There is a lot of emerging research that details the role of Vitamin D in supporting heart health. This research clarifies that people with chronic vitamin D deficiency have a very high risk of developing cardiovascular disease such as heart attack. Poor levels also increase the risk of developing high blood pressure and diabetes, and these two very conditions are well-known to put you at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular complications. Several clinical studies have also exposed a close link between vitamin D deficiency and conditions such as atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease and heart failure.
Vitamin D Deficiency: A Major Threat to Your Health
Causes of vitamin D deficiency
Your body can make its own vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunlight. Ideally, a good exposure for about 15 to 20 minutes, few times a week is good enough to make a healthy amount of vitamin D that you possibly need for your bone and inclusive health. The time of day and latitude of your location has a significant bearing, and the overall process of vitamin D synthesis depends on a lot of factors. For example, UVB part of the sunlight is what is responsible for starting vitamin D production in the skin. The UVB rays react with cholesterol in your skin, which is converted into a form of Vitamin D that enters the circulation and reaches your liver and kidneys, where it is transformed into an active form of vitamin D that can be used by your cells. So, anything that may interfere in this process may directly influence the amount of vitamin D that you can naturally make through sun exposure. These factors include your location (higher latitudes get less UVB rays), limited sun exposure, time of exposure (UVB rays are weaker in the early morning), your skin color (people with darker skin tone have more melanin that blocks UVB rays), skin issues, and liver and kidney disorders
In addition, age, being overweight, cholesterol lowering drugs and gastrointestinal conditions such as celiac disease that largely affect absorption also put you at a significant risk of developing vitamin D deficiency. Some people may have this idea that sitting by a glass window with sunlight streaming through can boost their vitamin D levels. The reality, however, is that the glass is known to block the UVB rays you need to make Vitamin D.
When we are talking about factors that raise your risk of vitamin D deficiency, the role of magnesium cannot be overlooked. Magnesium, on its own, has a very diverse portfolio as it plays an incredibly important role in your bone, muscle and heart health. Magnesium deficiency is also known to increase the risk of poor heart and cognitive health. It keeps the nervous system healthy, reduces anxiety, helps in stress, and promotes healthy sleep. You also need magnesium to properly absorb and use vitamin D3, whether you are getting it from supplements or through sensible sun exposure. In other words, if you are low on magnesium, taking vitamin D3 supplements won't help much in improving your vitamin D levels in the body.
Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency
With poor levels of vitamin D, you are likely to experience bone pain, muscle aches, muscle weakness, painful muscle spasms, fatigue and inability to sleep well.
Vitamin D deficiency also impacts your immunity and you may find yourself getting sick more often, especially with upper respiratory tract infections, allergies, wheezing and asthma. Loss of appetite, hair loss, depression and excessive sweating on the head are some other noteworthy symptoms of vitamin D3 deficiency. Long-term vitamin D deficiency may also present as erectile dysfunction, brain fog and poor wound healing in some people.
Link between vitamin D deficiency and heart disease risk
To understand the role of vitamin D in heart health, let's go back to the basics of how vitamin D actually works in the body. Almost all the tissues in your body have receptors for Vitamin D, which says a lot about the role of the sunshine vitamin in maintaining a wide range of functions and biological processes. These receptors are present in the cells of your immune system, intestine, brain, endocrine glands, muscles and heart. When you get vitamin D either through sun exposure or supplements, it gets attached to these receptors and activate them to control the production of all kinds of proteins that your body needs to function and survive. For example, when vitamin D binds to the receptors present in the immune cells or white blood cells, this process helps switch on specific genes involved in the production of anti-microbial proteins that boosts immunity and keeps infections at bay.
Vitamin D receptors are also present in cardiovascular tissues, highlighting the role of vitamin D in keeping the heart healthy and functioning efficiently. In addition to this direct role in promoting heart health and function, vitamin D3 also reduces other risk factors closely associated with cardiovascular health, such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. These health conditions damage blood vessels, which in turn damage heart health. Vitamin D3 also reduces inflammation, which has emerged as a key player in the development of cardiovascular disease.
Role of vitamin D supplementation in reducing heart disease
Can vitamin D supplements prevent heart disease? This latest study published by the BMJ shows that vitamin D3 supplements could help lower the risk of heart diseases such as heart attack. This clinical trial involving older adults highlights the importance of Vitamin D in heart health, especially in altering the risk of cardiovascular disease and reducing the odds of intervening procedures such as coronary artery bypass. [4] While the improvement was small and effect was more pronounced in the participants who were taking statins, the findings nevertheless indicate that vitamin D3 supplements may provide benefits in improving heart health and reducing the risk of cardiovascular events.
Vitamin D3 supplements are also helpful in controlling high blood pressure (hypertension) in older adults and obese individuals with vitamin D deficiency. [5]
Another latest study found that supplementation with vitamin D improved glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes. It also improved lipid profiles, and reduced uric acid levels in the participants. [6]
We will explore the mechanisms through which vitamin D3 may help in controlling high blood pressure and in improving metabolic profile in people with type 2 diabetes in our upcoming blogs. For now, we can say that Vitamin D deficiency may increase the risk of insulin resistance (IR), which can cause obesity, metabolic syndrome and poor glycemic control. High blood sugar levels are known to cause inflammation and oxidative damage in the blood vessels, causing dangerous complications for your heart health.
Vitamin D deficiency also increases inflammation and oxidative damage, affecting the health of the endothelium, blood vessels and other tissues. Research shows that vitamin D supplementation can help reduce endothelial damage. This may translate into reduced risk of cardiovascular damage. [7]
How can I get more vitamin D in my diet?
Can you top up your vitamin D levels through diet? Vitamin D is found in foods such as oily fish (salmon and tuna fish), egg yolks, mushroom and fortified milk and cereals. While it is always recommended to obtain nutrition from food, it is not possible to get optimum levels of vitamin D by eating food alone. Sunlight and high-quality liposomal vitamin D supplements are the best ways to boost your levels and leverage its benefits for your health.
FAQs
1. Is there a link between vitamin D deficiency and heart disease?
Studies show that chronic vitamin D deficiency can trigger or worsen many health disorders, including cardiovascular disease. Severe vitamin D deficiency can also increase conventional risk factors for heart disease such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and high blood pressure.
2. Why should you take magnesium with vitamin D3?
Magnesium helps in the proper absorption and utilization of vitamin D3. If you have a magnesium deficiency, taking regular vitamin D3 supplements won’t help you achieve healthy levels in your bloodstream.
References:
- Zhou et al. Non-linear Mendelian randomization analyses support a role for vitamin D deficiency in cardiovascular disease risk. European Heart Journal, Volume 43, Issue 18, 7 May 2022
- Cosentino et al. Vitamin D and Cardiovascular Disease: Current Evidence and Future Perspectives. Nutrients 2021
- Liu et al. Vitamin d deficiency and metabolic syndrome: The joint effect on cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in the United States adults. World Journal of Cardiology. 2022
- Thompson et al. Vitamin D supplementation and major cardiovascular events: D-Health randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2023
- Silu He and Xiyuan Hao. The effect of vitamin D3 on blood pressure in people with vitamin D deficiency. Medicine (Baltimore). 2019
- Hu et al. Effects of long-term vitamin D supplementation on metabolic profile in middle-aged and elderly patients with type 2 diabetes. The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 2023
- Renke et al. Effects of Vitamin D on Cardiovascular Risk and Oxidative Stress. Nutrients 2023
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