Saturday may 31, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- A systematic review in British Medical Journal confirms that high circulating vitamin D can lower risk of death from many chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Researchers reviewed 73 cohort studies and 22 clinical trials sorted out from Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, and reference lists of relevant studies published prior to August 2013 and found that vitamin D protects against premature death from diseases.

Men and women with lowest circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D were 35%, 14%, 30% and 35% more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, cancer, non-vascular, non-cancer diseases and all causes, respectively, compared with those who had higher serum levels of vitamin D.

In randomized controlled trials, vitamin D3 supplementation lowered risk of all-cause mortality by 11% and vitamin D2 supplementation reduced the risk by 4%.  Observational studies showed a much higher reduction in risk of death among people with higher use of vitamin D supplements.  

The review concluded "Evidence from observational studies indicates inverse associations of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D with risks of death due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other causes."

And "Supplementation with vitamin D3 significantly reduces overall mortality among older adults."

Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with a range of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and depression.

Vitamin D is incredibly safe to consume.  It is generally believed that a daily dose of up to 10,000 IU of vitamin D does not cause any evidence of harm.   Scientists recommend a daily intake of 4,000 to 5,000 IU for adults.

Exposure of the face and hands to the sun in the hottest hours of the day can generate an amount of vitamin D a healthy person needs.    

Reference 

Rajiv Chowdhury, Setor Kunutsor, PhD candidate1, Anna Vitezova, Clare Oliver-Williams, Susmita Chowdhury, Jessica C Kiefte-de-Jong, Hassan Khan, Cristina P Baena, Dorairaj Prabhakaran, Moshe B Hoshen, Becca S Feldman, An Pan, Laura Johnson, Francesca Crowe, Frank B Hu, Oscar H Franco, Vitamin D and risk of cause specific death: systematic review and meta-analysis of observational cohort and randomised intervention studies, BMJ 2014; 348 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g1903 (Published 1 April 2014)