Thursday 22 August 2019

Vitamin D level 'has no link to fainting condition'

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Allison Bray

Older people who take vitamin D supplements to prevent them from getting dizzy or even fainting after standing up due to low blood pressure are wasting their time, a new study reveals.

Over-50s may be prone to a condition called orthostatic hypotension (OH), in which low blood pressure can cause them to feel dizzy or even faint or fall when standing up from a sitting position. The condition affects about 30pc of over-50s in Ireland.

However, a study from the Irish Longitudinal Study On Ageing team at Trinity College has ruled out a link between vitamin D and OH.

It was previously thought taking vitamin D supplements may help to prevent OH, based on the high percentage of people in Ireland suffering from vitamin D deficiency, including one in four people during the winter and one in eight over-50s.

Researcher Dr Eamon Laird said: "This is the largest ever study exploring vitamin D and OH. In the older Irish population we see no association.

"This is important as it is essential to know what is and is not associated with vitamin D when trying to devise and recommend intakes for the population based on health outcomes. Recently vitamin D has been seen as the cure-all health panacea; however it... cannot be associated with everything."

Irish Independent

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