NEW YORK: ‘Sunshine Vitamin’ is good for your bones and cuts the risk of cancer and diabetes, doctors have said for years. But, a new study has revealed that taking the compound everyday might extend your life too.
A team of international researchers has carried out a study and found that taking a daily dose of Vitamin D lowers the risk of mortality- the findings have been reported in the ‘Archives of Internal Medicine’ journal.
“It’s very new to see (the effects of) Vitamin D on organs different than the bones. These are very ordinary doses. You don’t need four or five pills a day. You should probably get rid of all the other vitamins.
“At this point, that’s where we are. This is quite real,” according to lead researcher Dr Philippe Autier of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in France.
In fact, the researchers came to the conclusion after analysing 18 trials involving Vitamin D supplements on nearly 57,000 patients. They evaluated doses ranging from 300 to 2,000 international units.
The team members found that over an average of nearly six years, those who took Vitamin D had a seven per cent lower risk of death from all causes than those who did not.
However, according to the researchers, getting enough Vitamin D in diets isn’t enough- one should also spend ten minutes in the sun during peak hours daily to produce the currently recommended level of 1,000 IU of the compound.
Fish, liver and egg yolk are the only foods which naturally contain Vitamin D, though some other foods are fortified with it.
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