Taking a vitamin D supplement every day for a month may cause a drop in blood pressure — reducing the risk of strokes and heart attacks, suggests research, which GazetaExpress reports.
Vitamin D, known as the "sunshine vitamin," has always been valued for its benefits for bone health and its role in strengthening the immune system.
Now, researchers in Lebanon, who followed more than 200 healthy adults in their 70s, found that it also "significantly" lowered blood pressure in those who took it for a month.
The team found that a 600 IU (or 15 mg) tablet had the optimal effect — and increasing the dose made little difference in benefit.
High blood pressure is a leading cause of death, responsible for one in four deaths, according to NHS England. It is often known as a “silent” threat because around a third of those who have it are thought to be undiagnosed, according to the British Heart Association.
It is the leading cause of heart disease, but it can also lead to kidney disease and vascular dementia.
Now experts believe they may have discovered a cheap and low-risk method for treating this problem, which affects blood flow to the heart.
In the study, researchers divided 221 adults, with an average age of 71 and a BMI of 30.2 (classified as obese), into two groups.
The first group took vitamin D supplements at 600 IU per day — the dose recommended by the Institute of Medicine. Most vitamin D tablets found in regular pharmacies contain about 400-800 IU per tablet.
The second group, 110 volunteers, took potent tablets with 3,750 IU per day.
After a one-year period, the team found that both groups had lowered their blood pressure by an average of 3.5 mm Hg. This is systolic pressure, the top number on a blood pressure monitor. Normal blood pressure is considered to be below 120.
Those taking the highest dose saw this figure drop by 4.2 mm Hg on average, while the lowest dose group experienced a decrease of 2.8 mm Hg.
But, writing in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, they concluded that this change was small and would not have a major impact on heart health risk.
Experts have long touted vitamin D — which can be purchased over the counter — as beneficial for bone and muscle health. The vitamin's main role is to help bones absorb calcium, making them stronger and less prone to fractures.
Its deficiency causes rickets in children and a similar condition, osteomalacia, in adults — softening and weakening of the bones that causes pain and deformities.
It is also believed to reduce the risk of type 1 diabetes, respiratory diseases, and other illnesses.
But Britons of all age groups are not getting enough of it, with contributing factors including poor diet, lack of time outdoors and not taking supplements to make up for the deficiency.
Recent research from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey reports that between 2008 and 2012, nearly a quarter of adults aged 19 to 64 and one in five adults over 65 had unsafe levels of vitamin D in their blood.
The amount of vitamin D in the body can be determined with a blood test — and the results are reported in units of nanomoles per liter, denoted as nmol/l.
A level of 25 nmol/l or lower is considered deficient — this was established about two decades ago, as it was linked to an increased risk of rickets.
Other previous research, however, suggests that taking too much vitamin D supplements can lead to hypercalcemia, a condition in which calcium in the blood accumulates in excessive amounts, potentially forming deposits in arteries or soft tissues.
It can also predispose people to painful kidney stones. /Express newspaper/
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