This study evaluated levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the offspring of nonagenarians who have previously been shown to have a lower prevalence of age-related diseases and a higher propensity to reach old age.
The investigators found that the offspring had lower levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D compared with controls.Individuals in families characterized by longevity tend to have low levels of 25(OH) vitamin D, Dutch researchers found.
Offspring of parents who lived into their 90s had significantly lower levels of 25(OH) vitamin D compared with controls (64.3 nmol/L versus 68.5 nmol/L, P=0.002), according to Diana van Heemst, PhD, of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues.
They also were less likely to carry a common genetic variant that is associated with increased levels of the vitamin (P=0.04), the researchers reported online in CMAJ.
Vitamin D is necessary for formation of bone and contributes to the development of immune cells and inhibition of cancer.
Previous cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have suggested that low levels of 25(OH) vitamin D were associated with high mortality and numerous ailments including cardiovascular disease, malignancies, diabetes, and infections.
However, those studies were not designed to prove causality, and a large meta-analysis found no difference in mortality with vitamin D supplementation, "suggesting that low serum levels of vitamin D are a consequence rather than a cause of disease," van Heemst and colleagues observed.
06/11/2012 : By Nancy Walsh / MedPage Today.
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