Study: Monthly doses of Vitamin D do not prevent heart disease

Taking a high dose of vitamin D on monthly basis does not reduce the risk of heart disease, a recent study has said.

According to researchers from University of Auckland, New Zealand, a randomised trial was carried out to compare the average percentage of individuals who are vitamin D deficient and those who are not.

Volunteers were randomly selected and assigned to two groups.

Those in the first group received an initial dose of 200,000 IU of vitamin D3. The following month the dose was reduced to 100,000 IU and this was repeated for an average of 3.3 years.

Those in the second group received a placebo.

The researchers report that 303 participants in the vitamin D group developed cardiovascular disease compared with 293 people in the placebo group.

The study revealed that monthly high-dose of vitamin D supplementation does not prevent CVD. The effects of daily or weekly dosing on CVD risk require further study.

“The study provides definitive evidence that monthly doses of vitamin D did not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in the study population. However, as the authors themselves acknowledge – and given the strength of suggestive evidence from observational studies – this trial does not rule out the possibility that vitamin D might have a role in reducing risk of cardiovascular disease if it were to be given in a different way or to a population with different characteristics,” says Adrian Martineau, clinical professor.

The study also advised that patients with vitamin D deficiency, who have been prescribed supplements, to continue to take them due to their established health benefits.