Vitamin D offers no health benefit in heart failure, finds study

Germany: The lipid profile was not seen to improve with vitamin D and it does not influence the calcification inhibitors fetuin-A and non-phosphorylated undercarboxylated MGP in patients with advanced heart failure, according to a new study published in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism.

A. Zittermann, Clinic for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Herz- und Diabeteszentrum NRW, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and colleagues conducted this study to investigate the effect of a moderately high vitamin D dose on lipid parameters and biochemical markers of vascular calcification (VC) in patients with established cardiovascular disease.

Vitamin D is known to link to health and many diseases including bone, heart, brain and other organs. Vitamin D exerts its actions after being converted by the liver and kidneys to its active form, 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D.

This pre-specified secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial involved 161 patients with advanced heart failure and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) concentrations < 75 nmol/L (vitamin D group), who received a daily vitamin D₃ supplement of 4,000 IU for 3 years. The researchers then assessed differences in the lipid parameters between the groups. The parameters involved low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, total-cholesterol, and the VC markers non-phosphorylated undercarboxylated matrix gla protein (MGP) and fetuin-A at study termination, with adjustment for baseline values.

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Key Findings:

• Lipid parameters, the percentage of patients with dyslipoproteinemia, and VC markers did not differ significantly between groups at study termination.


• Likewise, vitamin D achieved no significant treatment effect on these markers in subgroup analyses in patients with 25OHD concentrations < 30 nmol/L, nonusers of lipid-lowering drugs, or diabetic patients.

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"Our data indicate that vitamin D does not improve the lipid profile and does not influence the calcification inhibitors fetuin-A and non-phosphorylated undercarboxylated MGP in patients with advanced heart failure," concluded the authors.

For further reference log on to https://doi.org/10.1159/000495662