According to a report from the Mayo Clinic, over 900,000 people in the United States develop life-threatening blood clots each year. Researchers hope to find natural ways to prevent the condition and avoid using treatment medications that come with dangerous side effects of their own. It's been known that vitamin D promotes healthy blood vessels, and now it also appears a deficiency of vitamin D may put you at risk for leg clots as well.
Blood Clots
Blood clotting can be beneficial, helping your body heal wounds and keeping you from bleeding to death. Ordinarily, your body simply absorbs the clot when it has done its job, but when that process goes awry, clots form inside your veins and arteries and restrict blood flow. If pieces of those clots break away, they can travel to other parts of your body and cause a heart attack, stroke or a pulmonary embolism in your lungs.
Vitamin D and Blood Vessels
Vitamin D is found in small amounts in food, but the vast majority of the vitamin D your body needs comes from sun exposure on your skin, with as little as 10 minutes of sun daily enough to prevent deficiencies. Researchers from Emory University School of Medicine in Georgia presented evidence at the 2011 annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology on the link between vitamin D and blood vessels. They reported that a deficiency of vitamin D, even in otherwise-healthy people, causes stiffer arteries and makes it difficult for blood vessels to relax, leading to impaired vascular function.
Effects on Blood Clots
A team of Swedish researchers noticed there was a 50-percent increased risk for blood clots during December, January and February, when there is less sunlight, people spend less time outdoors and wear heavier clothing. The study, published in April 2009 in the "Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis," also found that women who suntan have a 30-percent lower risk of developing a blood clot. The researchers noted that it is only during the summer that people tend to get enough Vitamin D.
Special Cases
Scientists at the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute published a study in the "British Journal of Haematology" in 2006 showing that prostate cancer patients who took a form of vitamin D known as calcitriol had significantly fewer blood clots than cancer patients who didn't receive the supplement. Two other studies, published in 2011 in the "Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology" and in "Clinical Nephrology," found that vitamin D deficiencies in patients with the immune disorder lupus and in kidney transplant patients led to an increased risk for deep vein thrombosis blood clots. In the kidney patients, a combination treatment that included calcitriol led to a 60-percent lower risk of clots.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Vitamin D; November 2010
- Office of Dietary Supplements: Vitamin D
- American Society of Hematology: Blood Clots
- Science Daily; Vitamin D Levels Linked With Health of Blood Vessels; April 2011
- "British Journal of Haematology"; High dose calcitriol may reduce thrombosis in cancer patients; T.M. Beer, et al.; November 2006
- "Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostatis"; Does an Active Sun Exposure Habit Lower the Risk of Venous Thrombotic Events? A D-lightful hypothesis; P.G. Lindqvist, et al.; April 2009
