Sunshine Prevents Heart Attacks

OK, maybe that’s not exactly accurate, but why should accuracy quash an opportunity for a sensational headline? The truth is, research conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health indicates that men who are deficient in the vitamin D –which the body manufactures when it is exposed to sunlight–
have more than double the normal risk of suffering a heart attack.
The L.A. Times reports that Dr. Edward Giovannucci of the Harvard School of Public Health  studied blood samples of 18,225 men, comparing the vitamin D levels in the blood of men who had heart attacks and men who didn’t. Giovannucci found that men with blood levels below 15 nanograms per milliliter had 2 1/2  times the risk of having an attack or dying. Next on the agenda: figuring out why. Giovannucci speculated that several mechanisms could be responsible.
Previous studies have suggested, for example, that low vitamin D levels
lead to a buildup of calcium in atherosclerotic plaques on the walls of
arteries, increasing the risk of heart attacks.
Read more in the L.A. Times.