“The higher risk associated with vitamin D deficiency was particularly evident among individuals with high blood pressure,” said Thomas J. Wang, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.

The scientists have studied  1,739 offspring from Framingham Heart Study participants (average age 59, all Caucasian) and they discovered that those subjects who had blood levels of vitamin D below15 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) had twice the risk of a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack, heart failure or stroke in the next five years compared to those with higher levels of vitamin D.

“We found that people with low vitamin D levels had a higher rate of cardiovascular events over the five-year follow-up period,” Wang said. “These results are intriguing and suggestive but need to be followed up with further study.”

The findings of the study are particularly important as the low levels of vitamin D are highly prevalent in the United States, especially in areas without much sunshine. The human body produces vitamin D during exposure to sunlight. According to the Framingham Heart Study researchers twenty to 30 percent of the population in many areas has moderate to severe vitamin D deficiency.

Therefore, Wang doesn’t recommend physicians check for vitamin D deficiency or that those with a known vitamin D deficiency be treated to prevent heart disease at this time.

Last year, an European study has proven that people who take regular doses of vitamin D may well prolong their lives.

Previous studies have shown that vitamin D decreases the risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Vitamin D deficiencies can affect the health of a person’s teeth and bones. The vitamin also seems to act as an important regulator of the immune system.

Few foods are naturally rich in vitamin D. Fortified products such as milk, soy milk, yogurt and cereal grains are essential in one’s diet. Other natural sources of the vitamin are eggs, fatty fish species (mackerel, salmon, catfish etc), yeast.