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# Attention: Vitamin D may help prevent heart disease, stroke
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/attention-vitamin-d-may-help-prevent-heart-disease-stroke/
- Published: 2011-06-13T19:12:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T15:55:03.000Z
- Description: Men who took in 600 IU or more of vitamin D a day were 28 percent less likely to have heart disease or stroke than those getting 100 IU or less, Qi Sun of Harvard and colleagues report. Women showed a 16 percent reduction that researchers said was not statistically significant.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Nutrition, Vitamin D, Heart Disease, Stroke, #vivvo-import

By David Liu, Ph.D. and editing by Elizabeth Hutchinson

Monday June 13, 2011 (foodconsumer.org) – Taking vitamin D supplements or eating food high in vitamin D may help prevent cardiovascular disease, particularly in men, a new study in the June 8, 2011 issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests.

The study showed that men who had an intake of 600 IU or more of vitamin D per day were 28 percent less likely to suffer heart disease and stroke when compared with those who had an intake of only 100 IU or less per day.

In women, the risk reduction was 16 percent, but researchers stated that the association was not statistically significant.

Previous studies have shown an association between vitamin D deficiency and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke.

The current study, led by Qi Sun of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA and colleagues, was meant to establish an association between the intake of vitamin D from foods and supplements and the risk of cardiovascular disease.

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from 74,272 women in the Nurses' Health Study from 1984 through 2006, and 44,592 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1986 through 2006\. Subjects were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at the beginning of the studies.

During the follow-up of 2,280,324 person-years, 9,886 cases of coronary heart disease and stroke were identified. Multivariate analyses after adjustment for other risk factors showed that a higher intake of vitamin D was correlated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease in men, but not in women.

According to vitamindcouncil.org, vitamin D deficiency may increase the risk for more than 100 diseases and health conditions including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, depression, autism, infections, autoimmune disease, mental disease, skin disorders, oral conditions, kidney diseases, and hematologic diseases.

Heart disease and stroke together account for 30.8 percent of the total death risk in men, according to womenshealth.gov.