Mozart and Mahler's Untimely Deaths Linked to Vitamin D Deficiency?

Famous musicians Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Gustav Mahler may have died due to vitamin D deficiency, says a new study.

It is known that vitamin D may reduce the risk of many acute respiratory infectious diseases including viral infections such as influenza and bacterial infections such as pneumonia.

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Mozart died at the age of 35, after suffering from many infectious illnesses including catarrh, fever, sore throat and bad colds from 1762 to 1791.

Most of these illnesses occurred between mid-October and May.

According to the study, it is impossible to make vitamin D from solar ultraviolet-B irradiance for about six months of the year at the latitude of Salzburg and Vienna, 48s N.

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It tries to link Mozart's death on December 5, 1791 with the six months vitamin D winter at that latitude.

In the case of Mahler, who was raised in Czech Republic (49 deg. N), the composer developed a sore throat while working in New York with the Philharmonic orchestra in December 2010.

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He was subsequently diagnosed with bacterial endocarditis and died on May 18, 1911 at 41 years of age.

After analyzing the two cases, the study has concluded that vitamin D has the potential to fight such blood-born bacterial infections.

It further states that vitamin D deficiency is very likely an important issue for modern musicians as well.

This is because musicians have to spend many hours indoors practicing and performing and are prone to low sunlight exposure, which leads to reduced vitamin D synthesis in the skin.

Modern researches have suggested that vitamin D cuts the risk of many types of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, neurological and neuromuscular diseases.

It also prevents bone diseases including rickets and osteoporosis.

Source-ANI