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# Low vitamin D linked to high risk of leg artery disease
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/low-vitamin-d-linked-to-high-risk-of-leg-artery-disease/
- Published: 2008-06-07T19:48:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:13:37.000Z
- Description: In a national survey of 4,839 US adults, 8.1% of those with the lowest vitamin D levels had peripheral artery disease versus 3.7% of those with the highest. The study was not a trial, so it cannot show that low vitamin D causes PAD or that supplements would help.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Vitamins, Nutrition, #vivvo-import

PAD is a condition in which the legs are narrowed or clogged by fatty deposit and blood flow is restricted to the legs. It affects an estimated 8 to 12 million Americans, according to the American Heart Association.

Dr. Michal L. Melamed from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York and colleagues analyzed data from a national survey of 4,839 U.S. adults whose vitamin D levels were measured.

People with PAD had significantly lower levels of vitamin D than those without. Of those with the highest levels of the vitamin, only 3.7 percent had PAD compared to 8.1 percent of those with the lowest levels of vitamin D, the researchers found.  
  
After other factors including age, gender and race were adjusted, people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were 2.18 times more likely to have PAD than those with the highest levels.

Specifically, a 10-nanogram-per-milliliter decrease in the blood vitamin D level was linked to a 35 percent increase in the incidence of PAD.

This study is not a trial, meaning the association is not necessarily a causal relation between PAD and the blood vitamin D level. Because of this, no one knows for sure if taking vitamin D supplements would definitely reduce the risk.

By Sue Mueller, and edited by Heather Kelley.  
Jun 7, 2008 - 7:33:49 PM