Vitamin D, besides helping build strong bones and muscles, may also play a vital role in protecting heart tissue and preventing heart failure after a heart attack, according to a new study conducted on mice.
Heart failure is a life-threatening condition affecting an estimated 23 million people worldwide.
Medical Management of Vitamin Deficiencies
Vitamins are essential for our body to grow and develop normally. Vitamin deficiencies are widespread. Understand the role of dietary sources in vitamin deficiency prevention.
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‘Vitamin D prevents excessive scarring and thickening of heart tissue following a heart attack, thereby reducing the risk of heart failure.’
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Vitamin D prevents excessive scarring and thickening of heart tissue following a heart attack, which may help reduce the risk of heart failure.
"This is a problem because scarring of heart tissue can reduce the heart's ability to pump blood effectively, which can lead to heart failure," said James Chong, Associate Professor at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research in Australia.
![Sunlight: An Important Source of Vitamin D]( "Sunlight: An Important Source of Vitamin D")
Vitamin D is an essential vitamin necessary for the development of bones. Sunlight helps the body to produce vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency results in rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.
For the study, published in the journal Heart Lung and Circulation, researchers used mouse models to investigate the impact of 1,25D -- a form of Vitamin D that interacts with hormones -- on the cardiac colony-forming unit fibroblasts (cCFU-Fs)cells that form scar tissue after a heart attack.
Heart attacks occur when blood supply to the heart is blocked, leading to tissue damage. This triggers an inflammatory response where the cCFU-Fs replace the damaged tissue with collagen-based scar tissue.
"Our research shows that vitamin D actually blocks the cCFU-Fs from forming scar tissue. By blocking cCFU-Fs, vitamin D may play an important role in lowering the risk of heart failure after a heart attack," Chong said.
"The benefits of Vitamin D are becoming increasingly known, but we still don't fully understand how mechanistically it can help with heart disease management. We wanted to know more about how Vitamin D protects the heart after a heart attack," he added.
Source: IANS
Sunlight: An Important Source of Vitamin D
Vitamin D is an essential vitamin necessary for the development of bones. Sunlight helps the body to produce vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency results in rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.
Advertisement
For the study, published in the journal Heart Lung and Circulation, researchers used mouse models to investigate the impact of 1,25D -- a form of Vitamin D that interacts with hormones -- on the cardiac colony-forming unit fibroblasts (cCFU-Fs)cells that form scar tissue after a heart attack.
Heart attacks occur when blood supply to the heart is blocked, leading to tissue damage. This triggers an inflammatory response where the cCFU-Fs replace the damaged tissue with collagen-based scar tissue.
"Our research shows that vitamin D actually blocks the cCFU-Fs from forming scar tissue. By blocking cCFU-Fs, vitamin D may play an important role in lowering the risk of heart failure after a heart attack," Chong said.
"The benefits of Vitamin D are becoming increasingly known, but we still don't fully understand how mechanistically it can help with heart disease management. We wanted to know more about how Vitamin D protects the heart after a heart attack," he added.
Source: IANS
Vitamin D Deficiency
Vitamin D the sunshine vitamin is essential for strong bones. Vitamin D deficiency is reportedly increasing worldwide and cause bone pain and muscle weakness.
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 Vitamin D Deficient Children have Higher Risk of Severe Forearm FracturesLink between low levels of vitamin D and severity of fractures has been found by a new research by orthopedic surgeons. | Advertisement
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