Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Heart Attack Risk

In recent weeks, more and more information has surfaced about the benefits of vitamin D. I posted previously about vitamin D deficiency's link to breast cancer risk. In today's Los Angeles Times there is an article that reports on a new study that men who lack vitamin D have more than double the normal risk of a heart attack.

While these are preliminary studies, evidence for the advantages of vitamin D is growing. It seems likely that dietary recommendations—currently advocating 400 IU per day—will be increased in the near future. But be careful in taking supplements: vitamin D is fat-soluble, and can accumulate to toxic levels within the body.

The easiest—and healthiest—way to increase your vitamin D is to get outside in the sun for some exercise, like walking, jogging, or riding a bicycle. Precursors of vitamin D₃ exist within the body normally and are converted when the skin is exposed to sunlight. Not only will you benefit from the extra vitamin D, but the exercise will help make you healthier in general.

Sucking Out Clots Improved Angioplasty Results

Researchers at University Medical Centre Groningen in the Netherlands have conducted a study that shows that thrombus aspiration—sucking clots out of arteries—just before angioplasty can reduce the mortality rate following heart attacks, according to the Los Angeles Times. About 5.6% of patients who received thrombus aspiration either died or suffered a second heart attack in the first year, compared with 9.9% of patients who only received angioplasty.

Expectations are that the procedure will be most useful for patients with larger clots or later angioplasties. These types of results are good news for people like me, with a family history of heart problems. I'm almost certain to have a heart attack at some point in time and anything that improves my chances of survival is good news. Then again, it should be pointed out that the company that sponsored the study is the company that makes the equipment used for the thrombus aspiration. So, as usual, I'd like to see some neutral follow-up studies conducted to demonstrate the same results.

Genetic Switch Fixes Damaged Hearts

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have discovered a genetic switch that allows mice to repair heart muscles damaged by heart attacks, and the research may be applicable to humans as well.

Normally, heart cells in mice, and in humans, stop regenerating after birth. If the heart is damaged by a heart attack, it cannot create new cells to repair the damage and hearts become less efficient at pumping blood. The team at Columbia University Medical Center in New York found that by genetically manipulating a gene associated with cell growth--called cyclin A2--adult mice were able to make new cells to replace those damaged in a heart attack.

The researchers engineered mice that continue to express cyclin A2 throughout their lives (normally it is only expressed in embryos). Later, they induced heart attacks in the mice. At three months, the mice whose cyclin A2 genes had been switched on had 77 percent better heart function than the other mice.

Most of the mice that did not have cyclin A2 activated progressed to heart failure and died, while none of the mice that expressed cyclin A2 died.

The research needs to be tested in larger mammals and eventually humans before any therapies useful to us will be available, but this is great progress and hopeful news, especially for those of us with a family history of heart attacks.