Could a Simple Vitamin STOP Heart Failure?

Heart failure is nothing to mess around with.

In addition to being deadlier than cancer, it’s also the number one reason people over 65 are hospitalized.

In fact, more people in this age group are hospitalized for heart failure than for all forms of cancer—combined.

It’s an enormous problem…but there could be a surprisingly simple solution.

Researchers recently found a deficiency that’s a common denominator in these hospitalized heart failure patients.

Correcting this simple deficiency could not only keep you out of the hospital…it could just save your life.

Researchers studied nearly 20,000 people for about six years, paying particular attention to those admitted for heart failure. They wanted to see if they could find what these patients had in common.

People with heart failure were more likely to be older, obese, diabetic, and have hypertension. That was expected.

The unexpected part?

They were also much more likely to be deficient in one of my favorite nutrients: vitamin D.

Even after adjusting for other factors, it was clear that those who were vitamin D deficient had a much higher risk of heart failure than those with normal levels.

So what’s the vitamin D connection? The answer is in its impact on mitochondrial function.

Lack of vitamin D impairs mitochondrial function, and mitochondrial dysfunction is a key underlying reason for heart failure.

Mitochondria have the job of converting the food you eat into usable energy that powers every single cell in your body. Your heart uses a LOT of energy to deliver oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to the body’s cells.

The problem is that as we get older, mitochondria become damaged and don’t function as well. Mitochondria dysfunction contributes to heart failure because it prevents the heart from getting the energy it needs to pump properly.

One reason for this is because we’re simply not getting enough vitamin D.

The great news? Improving your vitamin D status has been shown to enhance mitochondrial function.

And it couldn’t be easier.

Spend at least 15 minutes in the sun every day. Eat more food sources of vitamin D, like salmon, oysters, and eggs. And try to avoid exposure to non-native electromagnetic fields.