Washington, Aug 24 (Inditop.com) Researchers have found why low levels of vitamin D are known to nearly double the risk of cardiovascular disease in diabetics.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (WUSM-SL) have found that diabetics deficient in vitamin D can’t process cholesterol normally, so it builds up in their blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.
The new research has identified a mechanism linking low vitamin D levels to heart disease risk and may lead to ways to fix the problem, simply by increasing levels of vitamin D.
“Vitamin D inhibits the uptake of cholesterol by cells called macrophages,” said principal investigator Carlos Bernal-Mizrachi, Washington University endocrinologist.
“When people are deficient in vitamin D, the macrophage cells eat more cholesterol, and they can’t get rid of it. The macrophages get clogged with cholesterol and become what scientists call foam cells, which are one of the earliest markers of atherosclerosis,” Bernal-Mizrachi said.
Macrophages are dispatched by the immune system in response to inflammation and are often activated by diseases such as diabetes.
Bernal-Mizrachi and his colleagues believe that in diabetic patients with inadequate vitamin D, macrophages become loaded with cholesterol and eventually stiffen blood vessels and block blood flow.
These findings will appear in the Tuesday edition of Circulation.
