URMC study links vitamin D, race, and cardiac deaths (USA)

"Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to a higher number of heart and stroke-related deaths among black Americans compared to whites, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study. The journal Annals of Family Medicine is publishing the study in the January-February edition, which goes online January 11, 2010. Researchers sought to understand the well-documented disparity between blacks and whites in cardiovascular deaths. They turned to vitamin D because growing evidence links low serum levels of D to many serious illnesses including diabetes, hypertension, kidney and heart disease"