Vitamin D May Lower Heart Disease Risk

You may already know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S.—back in 2022, around one in five deaths in the U.S. was due to heart disease. Unfortunately, experts are projecting that by 2035, 45% of American adults will be living with heart disease.

The good news is that dying from heart disease is highly preventable, and scientists are continually looking for ways to prevent it. Besides lifestyle habits, like a heart-healthy diet, regular physical activity, managing stressors and getting plenty of quality sleep, there are specific nutrients that may be particularly helpful. Vitamin D is one of them, as evidence suggests that low blood levels of vitamin D may increase the risk of heart disease.

Vitamin D is a tricky nutrient because very few foods contain it. Our bodies manufacture vitamin D when we’re exposed to sunlight. But enough of the body needs to be exposed—arms, legs and face—for long enough, which poses some potential problems for people trying to prevent skin cancer or who easily burn. It’s also difficult for those who live in colder winter climates to get enough skin exposure year-round. For this reason, vitamin D is one of the vitamins that may need to be supplemented.

Researchers did a narrative review of studies on vitamin D and heart disease. They reported their findings in Nutrients. Let’s break down what they found. 

How Was This Study Conducted?

Researchers searched databases for studies on vitamin D and cardiovascular disease and reported the studies’ findings. As they narrowed down the field of studies, the researchers considered studies that used vitamin D supplementation or assessed participants’ level of vitamin D with bloodwork.

Since this was a narrative review, they didn’t analyze the data; they simply reported the findings. 

What Did This Study Find?

Researchers found that while the mechanisms by which vitamin D reduces heart disease risk are well understood, clinical evidence of these benefits remains scant, due to a lack of well-designed studies. 

With that said, here are some of the major findings researchers picked up in their review.

• In pregnant women, vitamin D supplementation reduced the risk of preeclampsia by 60%, gestational diabetes by 50% and preterm delivery by 40%.
• People with prediabetes may be able to significantly reduce their risk of heart disease by supplementing with vitamin D.
• In people taking statins (to help lower cholesterol) or cardiovascular medications, supplementing with vitamin D may lower the risk of major cardiovascular events by 13% to 17%. 

Limitations of any narrative review include difficulty finding high-quality studies and bias in interpreting the results. 

How Does This Apply to Real Life?

We know that vitamin D is essential for many bodily processes, including healthy bones and immune and nerve function. There is also evidence that vitamin D may play a role in preventing depression. Regarding heart disease, more and more evidence is stacking up in vitamin D’s favor. For example, we recently reported on a study that suggests that vitamin D deficiency may increase your risk of heart disease by 10%.

Vitamin D is a vitamin that people are commonly deficient in. And researchers do not always agree on who and how much people should supplement. The only way to know if you’re deficient in vitamin D is to be tested, but some professional organizations, like the Endocrine Society, state that routine screening for vitamin D deficiency is unnecessary, and that most people do not need to supplement. So, how do you know?

Some things to consider include where you live, how often you get outside with skin exposed and how many foods rich in vitamin D you eat. Foods that contain vitamin D include egg yolks, mushrooms, fatty fish (salmon, tuna, herring, swordfish, sardines), beef liver, cod liver oil and fortified foods, like milk, orange juice and cereal.

Generally, adults over 70, children and teens require more vitamin D. And if you’re pregnant or have osteoporosis, you’ll need to increase your intake, too. 

Regardless of where you’re at in the life cycle, if you know you’re not regularly eating vitamin D foods or getting outside often and long enough with enough skin exposure, it’s probably feasible to request a blood test from a medical professional. If the test suggests you’re deficient, talk to them or seek the advice of a registered dietitian regarding supplementation. 

Seeking professional advice is important because vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin. If you take too much over time, it can build up in your body and ultimately can even become lethal. So, having a health professional work with you find the dose that’s right for you can be helpful.

Our Expert Take

This narrative review adds to the mounting evidence that vitamin D plays an essential role in preventing heart disease and heart-disease-related events. Get outside when you can (there are many other benefits of being outside, too), and include foods rich in vitamin D. We’ve got lots of healthy egg recipes for you. And if you want to start adding more fish to your meal line-up, we’ve got 20 tasty fish recipes to get you started.