Vitamin D May Extend Life
Recent clinical studies have demonstrated that vitamin D may extend life.
An analysis of data selected from 18 randomly selected controlled trials found that individuals who took at least 500 international units of vitamin D had a seven percent lower risk of death. The study was conducted by researchers at the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the European Institute of Oncology.
The 18 trials that were researched involved 57,000 subjects who were studied for six years. At this point, researchers are not able to understand why vitamin D apparently is able to improve health and apparently prolong life. However, previous studies have shown that vitamin D can halt the growth of cells and since cancer is characterized by the growth of cells, it may be that vitamin D is able to control this growth.
Two other recently published papers have also shown vitamin D’s apparent benefits. One demonstrated that Finnish men who took a vitamin D supplement had half the number of respiratory infections compared to those who didn’t take the supplement and another study in the Netherlands concluded that those individuals who had a higher levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream were less likely to end up in a nursing home and less likely to die.
In June, 2007 the Canadian Cancer Society published a recommendation that adults take 1,000 IU of vitamin D daily during fall and winter and that older individuals and those with darker complexions should consider taking the supplement year round.