Men suffering from Vitamin D deficiency appear to be more predisposed to heart attack, new research published in the June 9 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers have long sustained that vitamin D plays a significant role in causing no less than seventeen varieties of cancers as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, birth defects, osteoporosis and other serious diseases.

The new study adds to the growing body of evidence that vitamin D is essential for our body. For the study, lead-author Dr. Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and his colleagues reviewed the medical records and blood samples of 454 men with ages between 40 and 75 who suffered non-fatal heart attack or fatal heart disease from the date of blood collection (between January 1993 and December 1995). The men were followed until January 2004.

These data were compared with medical records and blood samples of 900 living men who had no history of cardiovascular disease. Also, the participants were interviewed on their diets and lifestyles.

The study findings showed that men with vitamin D deficiency (meaning 15 nanograms per millimeter of blood or less) were about 2 1/2 times more likely to suffer a heart attack than those with higher levels of the vitamin.

“Those with low vitamin D, on top of just being at higher risk for heart attack in general, were at particularly high risk to have a fatal heart attack,” Dr. Giovannucci said as quoted by Reuters.

Not even after adding factors like “family history of myocardial infarction, body mass index, alcohol consumption, physical activity, history of diabetes mellitus and hypertension, ethnicity, region, marine omega 3 intake, low- and density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and triglycerides levels” to the equation, the association between vitamin D deficiency and heart attack did not change.

Vitamin D is found in many dietary sources like fish, eggs, fortified milk, and cod liver oil. Also, as little as 10 exposure to the sun’s rays is believed to be enough to prevent vitamin D deficiency. That is why people leaving at higher altitudes are more predisposed to vitamin D deficiency especially during the winter months when the sun rarely shines. Therefore, these people are more exposed to heart attack and cardiovascular disease, which are less frequent at higher altitudes, the researchers found.