D is for ?
Vitamin D is in the news as being a preventative for all kinds of things including osteoporosis, heart disease and even diabetes.
And now researchers from of the University of Michigan have reported that low levels of Vitamin D prior to menopause (before age 45) are associated with an increased risk of elevated systolic blood pressure 15 years later. “This is preliminary data so we can’t say with certainty that low vitamin D levels are directly linked to high blood pressure,” says Griffin, who is a doctoral candidate in epidemiology at the University of Michigan. “But this may be another example of how what you do early in life impacts your health years later.”
And while we can get it from the sun, the trouble is so many of us don’t and as we age converting ultraviolet rays to Vitamin D apparently gets harder.
The current recommended daily intake of 400 to 600 international units (IU) has been recommended by some researchers to be increased to 1,000 to 5,000 IU.
