Men with low levels of vitamin D in the blood have a greater risk of heart attack that those with normal levels, according to research appearing in the Archives of Internal Medicine (2008 June 9;168(11):1174-80). A nested case-control study was conducted in 18,225 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study; the men were aged 40 to 75 years and were free of diagnosed cardiovascular disease at blood collection. During 10 years of follow-up, 454 men developed nonfatal myocardial infarction or fatal coronary heart disease. It was found that men with serum vitamin D levels below 1.5 ng/ml were 2.42 times more likely to have fatal coronary heart disease or a non fatal heart attack than those with normal vitamin D levels.