How lounging in the sun could stop heart attacks

Topping up vitamin D by relaxing in the sunshine has health benefits

REGULAR sunshine breaks could help prevent heart disease, scientists revealed yesterday.

 

They discovered that a lack of vitamin D is linked to coronary artery disease, heart attacks and stroke.

The vitamin is obtained mainly from exposure to sunlight. So lounging on a beach or by a pool at a holiday hotspot could save lives.

Egg yolks, cheese and fish oil are other good sources of the vitamin which is known to help healthy bone development.

But new research has found for the first time the level at which it affects heart health.

A blood test can reveal what supplements should be prescribed for those who are lacking vitamin D. Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Centre Heart Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah, found that patients are protected against heart trouble if their vitamin D level is anywhere above 15 nanograms [billionths of a gram] per milliliter.

The best way to determine one's vitamin D level is by getting a blood test

Professor Brent Muhlestein

 



Egg yolks,cheese and fish oil are good sources of vitamin D



Professor Brent Muhlestein said: "Some researchers have proposed that anything above 15 was a safe level but the numbers hadn't been backed up with research until now.

"Even if any level above 15 is safe one out of 10 people still has vitamin D levels lower than that. This equates to a large percentage of our population.

The best way to determine one's vitamin D level is by getting a blood test." Vitamin D has been credited with other health properties and has been linked with combating cancer, multiple sclerosis, asthma and type 2 diabetes.

Prof Muhlestein has studied the effects of the vitamin on the heart for several years.

 

A beer belly on a thin person is deadlier to their health than them being obese according to a study

The new study involved more than 230,000 patients who were monitored over three years.

He said: "This study sheds new light and direction on which patients might best benefit from taking vitamin D supplements.

"This new information tells us the greatest benefit to the heart will likely occur among patients whose vitamin D level is below 15 nanograms per millilitre.

"We hope to ultimately gain enough information so that we can inform all patients what they should do to reduce cardiac risk as much as possible."

The study was presented at the 2015 American Heart Association Scientific Session in Orlando, Florida.

 

• A "spare tyre" or "beer belly" of fat around the middle of thin people is deadlier than being obese, a study has warned. Normal-weight adults who carry fat around their midsections had twice the mortality risk of those who are overweight but have normal fat distribution.

Cardiologist Dr Francisco Lopez-Jimenez of the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota studied 15,184 adults aged 18 to 90. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.