Vitamin D may protect against peripheral artery disease

People with low vitamin D levels may face an increased risk for peripheral artery disease (PAD), according to researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University. The scientists reported their findings at the American Heart Association’s Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology Annual Conference 2008.

PAD is a common disease that occurs when arteries in the legs become narrowed by fatty deposits, causing pain and numbness and impairing the ability to walk. PAD affects about eight million Americans and is associated with significant disease and death, according to the American Heart Association.

People obtain vitamin D by making it themselves (through skin exposure to sunlight), by ingesting foods such as fish and fortified dairy products that contain vitamin D, or by taking dietary supplements. Adequate vitamin D levels are necessary for bone health, but scientists are only beginning to explore vitamin D’s connection to cardiovascular disease.

To see whether vitamin D might influence PAD, researchers analyzed data from a national survey measuring vitamin D levels in the blood of 4,839 U.S. adults. The survey tested these people using the ankle-brachial index, a screening tool for PAD that measures blood flow to the legs.

The researchers found that higher levels of vitamin D were associated with a lower prevalence of PAD. When researchers adjusted for age, sex, race, and co-existing health problems, they found that PAD was 64 percent more common in the group with the lowest vitamin D levels compared with the group with the highest levels. While these findings suggest a role for vitamin D in preventing PAD, they don’t necessarily show that vitamin D truly deserves the credit. It’s possible that vitamin D levels are a marker for other health practices such as eating a healthy diet.

The research was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease of the National Institutes of Health.