Do you want a longer, heart-healthy, and cancer-free life? A study shows that vitamin D just might be the key.
According to an article in the journal Clinical Endocrinology, scientists from the United States, Netherlands, and Austria associated low blood levels of vitamin D with a higher risk of mortality from heart disease and other causes in the elderly.
They discovered that those with the lowest average vitamin D levels were at a 124 and 378 percent increased risk of dying from all-cause mortality and cardiovascular diseases.
“Vitamin D deficiency might contribute to reduced life expectancy,” they suggested.
Researchers culled data from 614 participants of the Hoorn Study, a prospective population-based study of men and women with an average age of 69.8 years.
Vitamin D Against Cancer and Heart Problems
Natural health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola echoes these findings. “So far, scientists have found about 3,000 genes that are upregulated by vitamin D,” he reveals.
Dr. Mercola also recommends vitamin D for better heart health. He enumerates heart disease-fighting psychological mechanisms triggered by vitamin D through sun exposure:
- • Increase your body’s natural anti-inflammatory cytokines
- • Suppression of vascular calcification
- • Inhibition of vascular smooth muscle growth
In the United States, cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading killers.
Dr. Mercola adds that vitamin D also has “a protective effect against at least 16 different types of cancer.”
Calcitrol, the active form of vitamin D, is found to induce a tumor-suppressing protein that inhibits growth of breast cancer cells. In a separate study of 166 women undergoing breast cancer treatment, nearly 70 percent were found to have low vitamin D levels.
Optimizing Your Vitamin D Levels
Vitamin D is best synthesized by the body through sunlight. In the absence of adequate sun exposure, you have other options to optimize your vitamin D levels: supplementation and the use of a safe tanning bed .
A safe tanning bed does NOT emit electromagnetic radiation and utilizes vitamin D-producing UVB rays. Look for one that uses health-enhancing bulbs such as infrared, red, and blue lights.
Other benefits of tanning beds include muscle pain relief and improved skin health.
Dr. Mercola considers optimizing your vitamin D levels a key player in your health, making a longer, illness-free life possible.
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Vitamin D Is a Key Player in Your Overall Health
