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Parent Category: Lower-Intermediate News Lessons

Category: Health Lessons

Written by Chris Cotter

Vitamin D has been called "the sunshine vitamin" because the sun's rays contain Vitamin D. Scientists used to think that vitamin D strengthened bones and teeth. However, new studies show that vitamin D is significantly more important for good health.

A study was conducted in Austria with 3,258 men and women. Many of these people had heart disease. The study found that people are more likely to die if they also have low levels of the sunshine vitamin. 737 people died during the study, which lasted eight years. Of this figure, 307 of the test subjects had the lowest levels of vitamin D. The researchers looked at age, physical activity, and other factors. They concluded that people with insufficient levels of the sunshine vitamin were twice as likely to die.

People shouldn't begin taking a lot of vitamins or spending long hours in the sun, though. Too much can also cause problems. However, low levels of vitamin D have been connected to high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. There is also a connection between levels of vitamin D and some forms of cancer. In fact, some scientists believe that the vitamin could prevent the development of cancer.

Milk, fatty fish, a multivitamin, or ten minutes in the sun every day should provide good health, especially a healthy heart.