Vitamin D Supplementation May Improve Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

Recent research published in the journal Engineering found that supplementing with vitamin D could improve several cardiometabolic risk factors, including blood pressure, blood lipid levels, and glycemic parameters.¹ The authors of the study said the findings suggest that higher vitamin D levels may be required to maintain cardiovascular health in certain populations.

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Although cardiovascular deaths have declined steadily for decades in the US, heart disease and stroke remain the leading causes of death in the country. Each day, there are over 2500 deaths from cardiovascular disease.² Low levels of vitamin D have been associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Some research has shown that taking vitamin D could reduce the risk, but more is data is needed to better understand the association.³

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“Despite the advancements in preventive and therapeutic medicine, cardiovascular diseases continue to be the number one cause of morbidity and mortality,” the authors wrote. “Vitamin and mineral supplements are widely used for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, and vitamin D, in particular, has garnered substantial attention in recent years.”

Investigators from the Food Laboratory of Zhongyuan in China conducted a meta-analysis in an effort to identify factors that modified the effect of vitamin D on cardiometabolic risk factors. A search was conducted of PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase databases to find randomized controlled trials published until March 26, 2024. Studies were included if they were written in English, conducted in humans, had a comparable placebo or control group, and if vitamin D was specified or enhanced using food or beverages as the intervention substance.

The meta-analysis included 99 studies with a total of 17656 participants aged 6 to 75 years of age. Of the studies, 48 were conducted in Western countries and 51 were conducted in non-Western countries. The baseline range of vitamin D levels was 5.59 to 35.01 ng·mL−¹. The BMI of participants ranged from 2.72 to 37.9 kg·m−². The dose of vitamin D that participants received varied from 40 to 120000 IU per day.

The meta-analysis found that vitamin D supplementation at lower and higher doses significantly reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure. While vitamin D did significantly decrease total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were not affected. Additionally, vitamin D significantly reduced all glycemic parameters. However, participants with lower baseline circulating vitamin D levels, lower BMI, higher vitamin D dosage, older age, and longer intervention duration received the most benefit.

Study limitations include a lack of evidence regarding the improvement in cardiovascular outcome events and incidence of type 2 diabetes, that some intervention periods were not sufficiently long, and that the evidence indicated high heterogeneity and serious inconsistencies in most results.

The authors of the study noted that more high-quality, longitudinal, and well-designed studies are “urgently” needed in order to strengthen the existing evidence on the effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation in modifying cardiometabolic risk factors.

“Our findings suggest that higher vitamin D levels are required to maintain cardiovascular health in non-Westerners, obese, and older populations,” the authors concluded. “Consequently, consideration should be given to administering higher doses for longer durations when designing personalized intervention strategies aimed at enhancing cardiometabolic health in these populations.”

READ MORE: Cardiology Resource Center

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References

1. An P, Wan S, Wang L, et al. Modifiers of the Effects of Vitamin D Supplementation on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Engineering. 2024, ISSN 2095-8099. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eng.2024.07.010.

2. More than half of U.S. adults don’t know heart disease is leading cause of death, despite 100-year reign. News Release. American heart Association. January 24, 2024. Accessed September 11, 2024. https://newsroom.heart.org/news/more-than-half-of-u-s-adults-dont-know-heart-disease-is-leading-cause-of-death-despite-100-year-reign

3. Haider F, Ghafoor H, Hassan OF, et al. Vitamin D and Cardiovascular Diseases: An Update. Cureus. 2023 Nov 30;15(11):e49734. doi: 10.7759/cureus.49734. PMID: 38161941; PMCID: PMC10757591.