Wednesday Nov 20, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- In European Hear Journal, a study shows that patients with coronary artery disease who were vitamin D deficient were much more likely to suffer cardiovascular events including death, compared with those who had vitamin D sufficiency.

G. Siasos and colleagues from University of Athens Medical School, Hippokration General Hospital in Athens, Greece followed 252 patients at a mean age of 72 with coronary artery disease for 3 to 36 months.

Of the study population, 88% suffered vitamin D deficiency and 12% had vitamin D sufficiency.  The researchers found that those who had vitamin D deficiency were 7 times as likely as those who had vitamin D sufficiency to die from cardiovascular diseases or events.

The study concluded "Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in CAD patients. Importantly, vitamin D deficiency is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcome in this high risk population a finding that must be further evaluated by interventional studies." (David Liu, PHD)