Vitamin D supplements may help heart patients improve their condition, a study shows. A trial of 163 patients with heart failure showed that vitamin D supplements could help them improve the function of their heart blood supply. Normally, the body’s skin synthesizes vitamin D through absorption of sunlight. A team of researchers at Leeds Teaching Hospital in the United Kingdom described the results as “very unusual. The British Heart Foundation has asked for a longer-term trial of this. Vitamin D is essential for the health of human bones and teeth, and is also important for overall human health. However, many people are deficient in vitamin D. The average age of participants in this trial was 70, and many people in this age group are deficient in vitamin D, even in the summer when the sun is relatively abundant. The ability of human skin to absorb sunlight and convert it into vitamin D weakens with age. Experts say the reason for this is not currently known. Participants in the experiment took 100 mg of vitamin D supplements a day, or a placebo, for a year. Researchers then tested its effect on patients with heart failure, which causes the heart to fail to properly supply blood to the body. A healthy adult’s heart pumps 60-70 percent of the blood from the ventricles with each beat, but a heart failure patient’s heart can only pump 25 percent of the blood with each beat. In patients who took vitamin D supplements, the amount of blood pumped per heartbeat increased to 26-34%. This result was very surprising to doctors and therefore very unusual, and it was as if these patients had received some more expensive treatment for the same effect. The vitamin D supplements were very inexpensive and had few side effects. The trials also showed that the patients’ hearts began to get smaller, meaning that the heart became stronger and more efficient. Foods rich in vitamin D include fish rich in fish oil and eggs. In the UK, doctors recommend 10 mg of vitamin D a day for people over the age of 65, but do not recommend high doses of vitamin D supplements as a daily medication. Although doctors do not currently understand why vitamin D improves heart function, it is believed that every cell in the body responds to vitamin D. In addition to sun exposure, foods rich in vitamin D include fish rich in fish oil and eggs. Of course, experts believe that more extensive and long-term trials should be conducted.