CBC News - Health - Low vitamin D linked to high blood pressure

CBC News - Health - Low vitamin D linked to high blood pressure

Young women with vitamin D deficiency may be at higher risk of developing high blood pressure years later in life, according to new research reported Thursday.

Vitamin D deficiency before age 45 was linked with a three-fold increased risk of a type of hypertension more than a decade later, researchers from Michigan told a blood pressure meeting of the American Heart Association in Chicago.

People's bodies make vitamin D from sunlight. The vitamin, also found in fatty fish, fortified dairy products and supplements, has long been considered important for building healthy bones and teeth.

More recently, researchers have raised vitamin D deficiency as a possible risk factor for other diseases, including cancer, multiple sclerosis and arthritis.

The blood pressure study defined vitamin D deficiency as less than 80 nanomoles per litre of blood. Researchers define optimal vitamin D intake differently, with some recommending 400 to 600 international units daily and others suggesting up to 5,000 IU daily.

When the study began, two per cent of the 559 participants had been diagnosed or were being treated for hypertension, and four per cent had undiagnosed hypertension.

After 15 years, when the trial ended, 19 per cent of the women had been diagnosed or were being treated for hypertension and six per cent had the condition but didn't know it.

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