Believe that Vitamin D can prevent myocardial diseases Mar 2010
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2010 Mar 29. [Epub ahead of print]
Vitamin D deficiency and myocardial diseases.
Pilz S, Tomaschitz A, Drechsler C, Dekker JM, März W.
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Nuclear Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Vitamin D deficiency is common among patients with myocardial diseases because sun-induced vitamin D production in the skin and dietary intake of vitamin D is often insufficient. Knockout mice for the vitamin D receptor develop myocardial hypertrophy and dysfunction. 
It has also been shown that children with rickets who suffered from severe heart failure could be successfully treated with supplementation of vitamin D plus calcium. 
In adults, almost all patients with heart failure exhibit reduced 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, which are used to classify the vitamin D status. 
In prospective studies, vitamin D deficiency was an independent risk factor for mortality, deaths due to heart failure and sudden cardiac death. 
Several vitamin D effects on the electrophysiology, contractility, and structure of the heart suggest that vitamin D deficiency might be a causal factor for myocardial diseases. Data from interventional trials, however, are rare and urgently needed to elucidate whether vitamin D supplementation is useful for the treatment of myocardial diseases. 
In our opinion, the current knowledge of the beneficial effects of vitamin D on myocardial and overall health strongly argue for vitamin D supplementation in all vitamin D-deficient patients with or at high risk for myocardial diseases.
PMID: 20352623 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]