Does Vitamin D protect against high BP?

24^th September 2009 - Women who do not have enough vitamin D before the menopause may have a bigger risk of developing high blood pressure years later.

New research suggests a Vitamin D deficiency before the age of 45 was associated with a threefold increased risk for hypertension in middle age.

Researchers analysed data from a bone health study which looked at 559 women in their late twenties, thirties and early forties over a period of 15 years. Vitamin D levels were measured soon after the women entered the study and blood pressure readings were taken each year.

By the end of the trial, when the average age of the women was 53, about one in four had developed high blood pressure.

The research suggests that Vitamin D deficiency earlier in life appeared to be a predictor of hypertension more than a decade later.

“This is preliminary data so we can’t say with certainty that low vitamin D levels are directly linked to high blood pressure,” says lead researcher Flojaune Griffin “but this may be another example of how what you do early in life impacts on your health years later.”

Vitamin D: The super vitamin

The study is not the first to suggest that vitamin D may help protect against heart disease, and recent research has also implicated vitamin D deficiency as a possible risk factor for a host of other diseases, including multiple cancers, arthritis, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and even tuberculosis.

With the exception of bone diseases such as rickets and osteoporosis, which are clearly linked to vitamin D deficiency, none of these associations has been proven, however.

Exposure to sunlight is the easiest way to get enough of the vitamin, because the body uses ultraviolet rays from the sun to make vitamin D.

Many foods -- including milk, yogurt, breads, and cereals -- are fortified with vitamin D, but experts say that it would be very difficult to get adequate levels of the vitamin from food sources alone.

The Food Standards Agency says Vitamin D has a number of important functions. It helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body which are needed to help keep bones and teeth healthy.

Its advice is that most people should be able to get enough by eating a varied and balanced diet and getting some sun. If you do decide to take a supplement, the FSA says don’t take too much as it could be harmful.

Experts say further study is needed.

Study co-author, professor of epidemiology Mary Fran Sowers, says that the public health message advocating head-to-toe, 24/7 protection from the sun may need to change.

“We have recognised for a long time that it takes very limited sun exposure to get adequate vitamin D,” she says.