Low vitamin D may explain the link between
Grant, PhD
preeclampsia and cardiovascular disease
Sir:
The recent review and meta-analysis of cardiovascular
sequelae of preeclampsia found large increases in risk of
cardiovascular diseases for those who suffered pre-
eclampsia and an increased risk with increasing severity
of preeclampsia.1 Preeclampsia is also associated with
increased risk of cancer.2 I would like to suggest that the
link is low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D), which
has been reported as a risk factor for preeclampsia3 as
well as for cardiovascular disease.4,5 Serum 25(OH)D
levels are associated with important cardiovascular
disease risk factors in US adults.6 Low serum 25(OH)D
is also an important risk factor for many types of cancer.7
It has been suggested that pregnant and nursing women
should be taking 4,000 to 6,000 IU/d of vitamin D.8 For
optimal health in general, serum 25(OH)D levels should
be N32 ng/mL (80 nmol/L).9 One thousand international
units per day raises serum 25(OH)D by about 10 ng/mL.9
Disclosures
I receive funding from the UV Foundation (McLean,
VA), the Vitamin D Society (Canada), the Sunlight
Research Forum (Veldhoven), and Bio-Tech-Pharmacal
(Fayetteville, AR).
Am Heart J 2010;159:e19.
0002-8703/$ - see front matter
doi:10.1016/j.ahj.2009.12.007
William B.
Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center
(SUNARC)
San Francisco, CA
E-mails: http://www.sunarc.org,
wbgrant@infionline.net
References
1. McDonald SD, Malinowski A, Zhou Q, et al. Cardiovascular sequelae
of preeclampsia/eclampsia: a systematic review and meta-analyses.
Am Heart J 2008;156:918-30.
2. Calderon-Margalit R, Friedlander Y, Yanetz R, et al. Preeclampsia and
subsequent risk of cancer: update from the Jerusalem Perinatal Study.
Am J Obstet Gynecol 2009;200:63.e1-5.
3. Bodnar LM, Catov JM, Simhan HN, et al. Maternal vitamin D deficiency
increases the risk of preeclampsia. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2007;92:
3517-22.
4. Wang TJ, Pencina MJ, Booth SL, et al. Vitamin D deficiency and risk of
cardiovascular disease. Circulation 2008;117:503-11.
5. Michos ED, Melamed ML. Vitamin D and cardiovascular disease risk.
Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 2008;11:7-12.
6. Martins D, Wolf M, Pan D, et al. Prevalence of cardiovascular risk
factors and the serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in the United
States: data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey. Arch Intern Med 2007;167:1159-65.
7. Grant WB, Garland CF. The association of solar ultraviolet B (UVB)
with reducing risk of cancer: multifactorial ecologic analysis of
geographic variation in age-adjusted cancer mortality rates.
Anticancer Res 2006;26:2687-99.
8. Hollis BW. Vitamin D requirement during pregnancy and lactation. J
Bone Miner Res 2007;22(Suppl 2):V39-44.
9. Heaney RP. Vitamin D in health and disease. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol
2008;3:1535-41.