Healthy Recipe Doctor

The vitamin that may reduce your chances of developing heart disease and diabetes by 43%.

If you are considered “middle aged” or older, you might want to listen up. According to researchers at the University of Warwick Medical School, high levels of vitamin D could reduce your chances of developing heart disease by 33% and diabetes by 55%, compared to people with low levels of D.

Through a review of 28 studies including almost 100,000 men and women, an association between high levels of vitamin D and a substantial decrease in cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome was revealed.

Vitamin D is the vitamin of the decade. It seems to be popping into the news and research on an almost daily basis. The tricky thing about this fat-soluble vitamin is that it is found naturally in only a few foods – oysters, most types of fish( but particularly fatty fish like mackerel and salmon), and egg yolks from chickens fed vitamin D. And vitamin D is synthesized by your body when skin is exposed to UV rays from sunlight.

More and more foods and products are being fortified with vitamin D: milk, yogurt, margarine and cereals. When you have a choice between a food or product with vitamin D added and one without, think about the results of this research analysis. See below for some examples of vitamin D fortified foods and the adequate daily dietary intake for vitamin D.

The adequate daily dietary intake for vitamin D for adults is:

• 200 IU for ages 19-50
• 400 IU for ages 51-70
• 600 IU for ages 71+

[Levels of vitamin D and cardiometabolic disorders: Systematic review and meta-analysis. 
Parker J, Hashmi O, Dutton D, Mavrodaris A, Stranges S, Kandala NB, Clarke A, Franco OH. 
Maturitas. PMID: 20031348]

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