Vitamin D is not just good for strengthening bones but also appears to increase life span, media reports said Wednesday quoting studies in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
The fingings add to the growing medical literature about the benefits of what is sometimes called the "sunshine vitamin" because it is produced by the skin in response to sunlight.
Recent studies have suggested vitamin D deficiencies increase the risk of cancer, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. It could play a role in reducing heart disease and preventing pre-eclampsia in pregnant women.
People who take regular doses of vitamin D have a significantly lower risk of dying early than those who do not use supplements, according to the researchers.
"Intake of ordinary doses of vitamin D supplements seems to be associated with decreases in total mortality rates," said Philippe Autier of the International Agency for Cancer Research in France and Sara Gandini of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan.
The reasons are not clear but the researchers suggested the vitamin might block cancer cells from spreading or boost the immune system.
They did not conduct the studies themselves but did what is called a meta-analysis by reviewing 18 separate trials involving nearly 60,000 patients.
They found that nearly 5,000 of the participants in the studies died over an average follow-up period of 5.7 years, with the data showing that those who took vitamin D supplements had a 7 percent lower risk of death.
The team did not consider the specific causes of death in the studies, which included mostly healthy middle-aged or elderly people. They said further investigation was needed to find those kinds of answers.
Few foods are naturally rich in vitamin D. Fish, liver and egg yolk are the only foods that naturally contain vitamin D, though some other foods are fortified with it.
Some vitamin D researchers believe that as people spend more and more time indoors, as opposed to the long stretches spent outdoors and uncovered in agrarian times, they have developed serious vitamin D deficiencies. They say levels that are considered normal in the United States are one-fifth of the levels of 10,000 years ago.
Dr. Cedric F. Garland, a cancer prevention specialist at the University of California, San Diego, said some cancers -- rare in agrarian times -- can be blamed on vitamin D deficiencies, something researchers have just begun to understand in the past few years.
Source:Xinhua/agencies
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article