(29-05-11) Does vitamin D deficiency contribute to increased rates of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in African A mericans?1?5

Susan S Harris
ABSTRACT
African Americans have higher rates of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and
some forms of cardiovascular disease (CVD) than do European
Americans. African Americans also have much higher rates of vitamin
D deficiency. There is emerging evidence that vitamin D deficiency
may be a risk factor for hypertension, T2D, and CVD, but the
extent to which racial disparities in disease rates are explained by
racial differences in vitamin D status is uncertain. Despite a large
number of observational studies and a limited number of clinical trials
that examined 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations
as a potential determinant of CVD and T2D or its precursors, it
remains uncertain whether improving vitamin D status would reduce
risk of these conditions in the general US population or in African
Americans specifically. However, if the associations reported from
the observational studies are of the estimated magnitudes and causal,
vitamin D supplementation could potentially have a strong preventive
effect on some of these conditions and could reduce race-related
disparities in their prevalence. Because of the low 25(OH)D concentrations
of many, if not most, African Americans, and the low risk
associated with vitamin D supplementation, it is important to obtain
more definitive answers to these questions.

Source: Am J Clin Nutr doi:10.3945/ajcn.110.003491.

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