Vitamin D May Help Manage Heart Failure: Study
Vitamin D supplementation significantly decreased the severity of congestive heart failure and also improved other markers of the disease in a study published in 2013.
The research, published in the journal Congested Heart Failure, found that raising mean vitamin D levels from 5 ng/ml to 21.8 ng/ml via supplementation significantly improved NYHA scores – a rating system to describe severity of heart failure. Pro-brain natriuretic peptite levels and highsensitivity C-reactive protein – two signs of heart failure – also decreased after supplementation.
“The results of our study indicate that an appropriate strategy of vitamin D supplementation decreases the severity of HF, reflected in the reduction of serum proBNP,” the researchers concluded. “We also demonstrated that vitamin D causes a pronounced improvement in physical capacity of patients. Moreover, vitamin D was able to suppress the concentration of hs-CRP. Our data provide valuable evidence for the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in the optimal management of HF.”
Heart failure, or congested heart failure, affects 15 million people worldwide. The disease is characterized by the heart’s failure to pump enough blood throughout the body, resulting in frailty, shortness of breath, muscle weakness, and significantly increased risk of death.
