According to a recent research led by Dr Klaus Witte, from the School of Medicine and Consultant Cardiologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, daily dose of vitamin D3 improves heart function in people with chronic heart failure.
To conduct the study, more than 160 patients from Leeds who were already being treated for their heart failure using proven treatments including beta-blockers, ACE-inhibitors and pacemakers were observed.
Participants were asked to take vitamin D3 or a dummy (placebo) tablet for one year. Those patients who took vitamin D3 experienced an improvement in heart function which was not seen in those who took a placebo.
In the 80 patients who took Vitamin D3, the heart’s pumping function improved from 26% to 34%. In the others, who took placebo, there was no change in cardiac function.
This means that for some heart disease patients, taking vitamin D3 regularly may lessen the need for them to be fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a device which detects dangerous irregular heart rhythms and can shock the heart to restore a normal rhythm.
Vitamin D3 can be boosted by exposure to morning sunlight, beef liver, cheese, egg yolks and fatty fish. So, if you love your heart and want optimal function of your heart, vitamin D is what you need.
More than 23 million people in the world today are suffering from heart failure.
The five-year study was funded by the Medical Research Council.
S.O.Z