Vitamin D deficiencies have been found to significantly raise the risks of dying prematurely, a new analysis of studies has found.
 

The findings echo past studies that have suggested low levels of the vitamin are associated with higher risks for certain cancers and coronary heart disease, The New York Times reports.
 

There is still no general scientific consensus about the preventive health benefits of vitamin D. But the analysis, published online in The American Journal of Public Health, examined information from 32 studies and found that people with a blood level below nine nanograms per milliliter of the nutrient had almost double the risk of premature death compared with those with levels of 50 or higher.
 

All the studies accounted for other risk factors among the patients tracked, such as age, weight, physical activity, race, and smoking.
 

Lead researcher Cedric F. Garland, a professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of California-San Diego, said there is little danger in taking vitamin D supplements that are not excessive —"as long as we keep blood levels below 200 nanograms per milliliter."