Here’s an easy way to add two extra years to your life

Imagine that just as your life is ending, you’re given a bonus: two more years.

What would you do with those 730 extra days? Travel? Do volunteer work? Spend more time with your kids or grandkids?

While you’re pondering that, also ponder this: Dr. W.B. Grant of the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center in California believes it can be done.

Dr. Grant crunched some numbers and came up with this simple equation: Double your blood level of vitamin D and you’ll have a very good shot at a longer life — approximately two years, on average.

This assumes that your vitamin D level is already low (around 54 nanomoles per liter). But as we’ve seen with several studies, just about everyone has low D levels, unless you happen to live near the equator.

For his study, Dr. Grant looked at research regarding diseases that are known to drop in risk when D levels are high. He determined that a D level of around 110 nanomoles per liter would reduce risk of cancer, heart disease, infections, respiratory conditions and other diseases by 20 percent.

On average, that equals a gift of two extra years.

If a couple of extra years sounds appealing, you can go here to find out how to bump your vitamin D up to life-lengthening levels.

Sources:
“Doubling vitamin D level could add two years to life expectancy” Life Extension Update, 9/13/11, lef.org