The study showed that those who had lowest intake of vitamin D were 26 percent more likely to die from any cause than those who had the highest intake.

Early studies have already linked low intake of vitamin D to high risk of premature death.

Individuals with lower blood levels of sunshine vitamin D in their blood appear to have an increased risk of death from all causes and from cardiovascular diseases, according to an Austrian study in the June 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine

It's suggested that the optimum serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D or 25[OH]D is 30 nanograms per milliliter or higher. Based on this definition, 41 percent of US men and 53 percent of US women are deficient of this essential vitamin.

For the current study, Michal L. Melamed, M.D., M.H.S., of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y., and colleagues analyzed vitamin D levels in 13,331 men and women who participated in the Third National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES III).

Vitamin D levels were examined between 1988 and 1994, and participants were followed up for an average of 8.7 years through 2000. During the study, 1,806 of the participants died.

Participants were divided into four groups.   People in the group with the lowest intake of vitamin D (lower than 17.8 ng/mL were at a 26 percent increased chance of death from any death compared to those in the group with the highest intake.

However, no significant associations were found between vitamin D levels and risk of death from cardiovascular disease or cancer. (editor's note: The original authors wrote that The adjusted models of CVD and cancer mortality revealed a higher risk, which was not statistically significant.)

Vitamin D affects risk of death through their effect on blood pressure, the body’s ability to respond to insulin, obesity and diabetes risk, the researchers note.

Some observations have already suggested that vitamin D is associated with death risk.   For instance, there are more cardiovascular events in the winter when vitamin D levels are lower and cancer patients have a better survival rate when surgery is performed during the summer when vitamin D levels are higher.

"In conclusion, the lowest 25(OH)D quartile (less than 17.8 nanograms per milliliter) is associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality in the general U.S. population," the researchers conclude.