Vitamin D in Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

We read with much interest “Vitamin and Mineral Supplements: Do We Really Need Them?” As mentioned in the article, the use of multivitamin supplement is common, with 40–50% of people over the age of 50 using such supplements, resulting in a total sale approaching $28 billion dollars in 2011.^[1]

Currently, there is much enthusiasm surrounding vitamin D supplementation and its long-term effects on cardiovascular disease. Many recent prospective studies have shown a greater incidence of cardiovascular events among those people with vitamin D deficiency; however, there have been no randomized controlled trials evaluating vitamin D supplementation in primary prevention of predefined cardiovascular events. Fortunately, the VITAL trial (NCT01169259), a randomized controlled primary prevention trial evaluating whether supplementation of 2000 IU of vitamin D3 or 1 g of omega-3 fatty acids reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer in otherwise healthy patients, is currently ongoing.^[2]

Hopefully, the VITAL trial will help us reach some conclusion about vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid supplementation.