Lack of Vitamin D Linked to High Blood Pressure
Roman Bystrianyk
high blood pressure 15 years later, new research has found.
Vitamin D deficiency, defined as less than 80 nanomoles per liter of
blood, was measured in 1993 at the start of the Michigan Bone Health
and Metabolism Study, explained study author Flojaune C. Griffin, a
doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan School of Public
Health.
By that measure, more than 80 percent of the 559 women first tested in
the study had vitamin D deficiency, while 2 percent were being treated
for high blood pressure and another 4 percent had undiagnosed high
blood pressure.
No association between vitamin D levels and high blood pressure was
seen at that time. But in 2008, when 19 percent of the women had been
diagnosed with high blood pressure and 6 percent had the condition but
didn't know it, the incidence of high blood pressure was three times
higher for women who had vitamin D deficiency at the study's start,
after adjusting for the effects of age, obesity and smoking, Griffin
said.
Griffin was to report on the findings Thursday at the American Heart
Association's High Blood Pressure Research Conference in Chicago.
What happened to the women in the intervening years in terms of
vitamin D intake is unknown, Griffin said. "We don't have any
information about how the women were eating beyond that baseline
measurement," she noted.
The recommended intake of vitamin D has risen since the study began.
Current guidelines call for an intake of 400 International Units (IU)
for people under 60 and 600 IUs for those aged 60 and older, Griffin
said.
"Exposure of skin to the sun is the most potent way to increase
vitamin D levels," she added. "The main food sources include fatty
fish, such as wild salmon. Also, milk and milk products are fortified
with vitamin D."
There is no way of knowing whether increased vitamin D intake over the
years might have affected the incidence of high blood pressure, a
major risk factor for such cardiovascular problems as heart attack and
stroke, Griffin said.
"This study underscores a growing amount of accumulated data that low
vitamin D levels are associated with high blood pressure," said Dr.
John P. Forman, an associate physician in the renal division of
Brigham and Women's Hospital.
But it's still not certain that raising vitamin D intake can help
prevent high blood pressure, Forman added. "We need large randomized
trials on that," he said.
Still, he noted, "there are a growing number of studies associating
lower vitamin D levels and high blood pressure. This one probably has
the longest follow-up."
More information
Known risk factors for high blood pressure are listed by the U.S.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution
Thursday, 24 September
madiba
> Low blood levels of vitamin D in younger women tripled their risk of
> high blood pressure 15 years later, new research has found.
Lets try and find a reasonable explanation for this one: Young
ambitious women spent more time indoors working on their studies/career.
They end up getting the better jobs which involve more responsibility,
stress... up goes the BP.
The sun-tanned young ladies on the beach got more sex, partners and
hubbies. Ergo less stress and career worries but more skin cancer.
--
madiba