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(March 12, 2012)

Vitamin D and stroke


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From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Nicholas Garlow with HHS HealthBeat.

A study indicates that the more vitamin D you have, the less likely you’ll be to have a stroke. Data from 21,000 people, ages 45 and older, who took a food frequency questionnaire, examined vitamin D and stroke risk.

Suzanne Judd is at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“We found an 11 percent reduction in stroke in those people who had the highest intake of vitamin D.” (7 seconds)

The majority of us get some of our vitamin D from the sun.

“10 minutes a day, arms and legs exposed in the spring and fall and summer should be fine.” (9 seconds)

Fatty fish like salmon and tuna are also a good source of vitamin D.

The study presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Nicholas Garlow.

Last revised: March 12, 2012