Chronic Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Premature Death

Live a longer, healthier life by optimizing your Vitamin D levels

Longevity is just about the most dramatic measure available to gauge the importance of a biological substance in health and disease. We all know that adequate vitamin D is necessary for the optimal function of the immune system which in turn, leads to less inflammation, a greater sense of well-being and better quality of life.

Now, new research from the University of South Australia gives strong evidence that vitamin D deficiency is associated with premature death, prompting calls for people to follow healthy vitamin D level guidelines.

Published in Annals of Internal Medicine, the study found that the more severe the vitamin D deficiency, the greater the risk of mortality. This does not mean that vitamin D deficiency causes death just that chronic vitamin D deficiency predisposes to developing a condition or conditions that ultimately contribute to our demise. On the flip side, it has been demonstrated that people with optimal levels of vitamin D (~80 ng/ml) have longer telomeres (a genetic measure of aging with longer telomeres linked to younger genetic ages) compared to age-matched people with lower vitamin D levels (less than 10 ng/ml).

This study provides strong evidence for the connection between low levels of vitamin D and mortality, and this is the first study of its kind to also include respiratory disease related mortality as an outcome.

"We used a new genetic method to explore and affirm the non-linear relationships that we've seen in observational settings, and through this we've been able give strong evidence for the connection between low vitamin D status and premature death.

"Vitamin D deficiency has been connected with mortality, but as clinical trials have often failed to recruit people with low vitamin D levels -- or have been prohibited from including vitamin deficient participants -- it's been challenging to establish causal relationships," said Josh Sutherland, first author of the study.

The study evaluated 307,601 records from the UK Biobank. Low levels of vitamin D were noted as less than <25 nmol/L (10 ng/ml) with the average concentration found to be 45.2 nmol/L (18.08 ng/ml). Over a 14-year follow up period, researchers found that the risk for death significantly decreased with increased vitamin D concentrations, with the strongest effects seen among those with severe deficiencies.

Senior investigator and Director of UniSA's Australian Centre for Precision Health, Professor Elina Hyppönen, says more research is now needed to establish effective public health strategies that can help achieve national guidelines and reduce the risk of premature death associated with low vitamin D levels.

"The take-home message here is simple -- the key is in the prevention. It is not good enough to think about vitamin D deficiency when already facing life-challenging situations, when early action could make all the difference," Prof Hyppönen says.

"It is very important to continue public health efforts to ensure the vulnerable and elderly maintain sufficient vitamin D levels throughout the year."

The average levels of vitamin D in this study were extremely low, which does, in a round about way, support the inference that just a little difference in vitamin D level can have a profound effect on longevity. As a reference, 5000 IU/day vitamin D3 should get your serum levels to around 40 ng/ml while 10,000 IU/day should get you close to 80-85 ng/ml, which is in the optimal range for immune system function. See more at StarPowerLifeSciences.org

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Journal Reference:

1. Joshua P. Sutherland, Ang Zhou, Elina Hyppönen. Vitamin D Deficiency Increases Mortality Risk in the UK Biobank. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2022; DOI: 10.7326/M21-3324