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Low vitamin D linked to high blood pressure

A new study published in Hypertension Journal has shown that low levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, a protein that measures vitamin D in the blood, is linked with an increased risk of developing high blood pressure.

The vitamin D study

Researchers from the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston studied 1484 healthy women from the Nurses' Health Study. The women were compared with a similar placebo group and had an average age of 43 years.

In all, 65.7% of the women had a vitamin D deficiency. Compared to women with the highest vitamin D levels, those with the lowest levels had a 66% increased risk of high blood pressure.

For those who were vitamin D deficient, the chance of developing high blood pressure increased by 47% compared to those with healthy levels.

Researchers comments

Researcher Dr Forman wrote, "Given that 65.7% of women were vitamin D deficient, the population risk attributable to vitamin D deficiency is 4.53 new cases of high blood pressure per 1000 young women annually. If this association is causal, then vitamin D deficiency may account for 23.7% of all new cases of high blood pressure developing among young women every year."

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