Increased risk of death from heart disease and cancer, as well as higher all cause mortality risk were associated with low vitamin D levels in a recent study published in the British Medical Journal.

The meta-analysis, which included data on nearly 900,000 people, found that those with low vitamin D levels had a 35 percent increased risk of death from heart disease, a 14 percent higher risk of death from cancer, and an 11 percent greater mortality risk overall.

The study also reported that, because more than two-thirds of the population in the United States and Europe is estimated to be vitamin D deficient, approximately 13 percent of all deaths in the U.S. and 9 percent of deaths in Europe are related to low vitamin D levels.

“We are talking about a large part of the population being affected by this,” said Dr. Oscar H. Franco, an author of the study in a New York Times blog. “Vitamin D could be a good route to prevent mortality from cardiovascular disease and other causes of mortality.”

Click here to view the study.

Click here to read coverage from The New York Times.

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