A Narrative Review of the Evidence for Variations in Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration Thresholds for Optimal Health
Grant et al.,
A Narrative Review of the Evidence for Variations in Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration Thresholds for..,
Nutrients, doi:10.3390/nu14030639
Review of the benefits of vitamin D for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and COVID-19. Authors conclude that optimal levels are above 30ng/mL for cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality, whereas the thresholds for other outcomes may range up to 40 or 50 ng/mL.
Grant et al., 2 Feb 2022, peer-reviewed, 8 authors.
Abstract: nutrients
Review
A Narrative Review of the Evidence for Variations in
Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration Thresholds for
Optimal Health
William B. Grant 1, * , Fatme Al Anouti 2 , Barbara J. Boucher 3 , Erdinç Dursun 4 , Duygu Gezen-Ak 4 ,
Edward B. Jude 5,6,7 , Tatiana Karonova 8 and Pawel Pludowski 9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
*
Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center, P.O. Box 641603, San Francisco, CA 94164-1603, USA
Department of Health Sciences, College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University,
Abu Dhabi 144534, United Arab Emirates; fatme.alanouti@zu.ac.ae
The Blizard Institute, Barts & The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London,
London E12AT, UK; bboucher@doctors.org.uk
Department of Neuroscience, Institute of Neurological Sciences, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa,
Istanbul 34098, Turkey; erdincdu@gmail.com (E.D.); duygugezenak@gmail.com (D.G.-A.)
Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, Fountain Street,
Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 9RW, UK; Edward.jude@tgh.nhs.uk
The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Manchester Metropolitan University, All Saints Building, Manchester M15 6BH, UK
Clinical Endocrinology Laboratory, Department of Endocrinology, Almazov National Medical Research
Centre, 194021 Saint-Petersburg, Russia; karonova@mail.ru
Department of Biochemistry, Radioimmunology and Experimental Medicine, The Children’s Memorial
Health Institute, 04730 Warsaw, Poland; p.pludowski@ipczd.pl
Correspondence: wbgrant@infionline.net; Tel.: +1-415-409-1980
Citation: Grant, W.B.; Al Anouti, F.;
Boucher, B.J.; Dursun, E.; Gezen-Ak,
D.; Jude, E.B.; Karonova, T.;
Pludowski, P. A Narrative Review of
the Evidence for Variations in Serum
25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentration
Thresholds for Optimal Health.
Nutrients 2022, 14, 639. https://
doi.org/10.3390/nu14030639
Academic Editors: Andrea Fabbri
and Igor Sergeev
Received: 7 January 2022
Accepted: 28 January 2022
Published: 2 February 2022
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Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Abstract: Vitamin D3 has many important health benefits. Unfortunately, these benefits are not
widely known among health care personnel and the general public. As a result, most of the world’s
population has serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations far below optimal values.
This narrative review examines the evidence for the major causes of death including cardiovascular
disease, hypertension, cancer, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and COVID-19 with regard to sub-optimal
25(OH)D concentrations. Evidence for the beneficial effects comes from a variety of approaches
including ecological and observational studies, studies of mechanisms, and Mendelian randomization
studies. Although randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are generally considered the strongest form of
evidence for pharmaceutical drugs, the study designs and the conduct of RCTs performed for vitamin
D have mostly been flawed for the following reasons: they have been based on vitamin D dose
rather than on baseline and achieved 25(OH)D concentrations; they have involved participants with
25(OH)D concentrations above the population mean; they have given low vitamin D doses; and they
have permitted other sources of vitamin D. Thus, the strongest evidence generally comes from the
other types of studies. The..
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