Get Your Daily Dose of Sunshine
Medical researchers are growing increasingly excited about a wonder drug that may significantly reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and many other diseases- sunshine. A recent study found that men who are deficient in vitamin D, which your body produces in response to sunlight, have more than double the normal risk of suffering a heart attack.
In fact, men with vitamin D levels below 15 nanograms per milliliter had two and a half times the risk of having a heart attack or dying- even after controlling for all other possible risk factors such as hypertension, obesity, and high lipid levels. Another study found that low levels of vitamin D increased the risk of diabetes, and yet another linked vitamin D deficiencies to an increased risk of dying from breast cancer.
These findings all join a growing body of evidence indicating that an adequate level of the vitamin, which many people can get from 20 minutes in the sun each day, is crucial to maintaining good health.
