(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Ill effects of vitamin D deficiency in men
are amplified by lower levels of estrogen, but not by testosterone.
Vitamin D is essential to good health, and can be obtained
from fortified foods such as milk and cereals, and by exposure to
sunlight. Previous studies showed that deficiencies in vitamin D
and low levels of estrogen were independent risk factors for
hardened and narrowed arteries and weakened bones.
Researchers conducted a national study of 1,010 men to
investigate the relationship between Vitamin D and heart and bone
health. "Our results confirm a long-suspected link and suggest that
vitamin D supplements, which are already prescribed to treat
osteoporosis, may also be useful in preventing heart disease," lead
investigator and cardiologist Erin Michos, M.D., M.H.S., Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart and Vascular
Institute, was quoted as saying.
"All three steroid hormones – vitamin D, estrogen and
testosterone – are produced from cholesterol, whose blood levels
are known to influence arterial and bone health," said Michos. "Our
study gives us a much better understanding of how the three work in
concert to affect cardiovascular and bone health."
Michos says the overall biological relationship continues to puzzle scientists because studies of the long-term effects of adding estrogen in the form of hormone replacement therapy in women failed to show fewer deaths from heart disease. Indeed, results showed that in some women, an actual increase in heart disease and stroke rates occurred, although bone fractures declined.
The men in the study had their hormone levels measured for both
chemical forms of testosterone and estrogen found in blood.
Initial results showed no link between vitamin D deficiency
and depressed blood levels of either hormone. And despite finding a
harmful relationship between depressed testosterone levels and
rates of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and osteopenia
in men, researchers found that it was independent of deficiencies
in vitamin D.
