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Study: Vitamin D deficiency could lead to high blood pressure

Category: Vitamin D Deficiency-Diagnosis and Treatment

Women with low blood levels of vitamin D are three times as likely to have high blood pressure 15 years later, new research suggests.

A study conducted at the University of Michigan School of Public Health studied 559 women in 1993 for vitamin D deficiency, defined as less than 80 nanomoles per liter of blood, Health Day news reports.

Initially, the study revealed that 80 percent of the women were deficient in vitamin D intake, while 6 percent had high blood pressure.
While no link was established at the time, researchers reviewed data collected in 2008 showing that 25 percent of the vitamin D deficient women had high blood pressure and determined that the incidence of high blood pressure was three times higher for women who had vitamin D deficiency in 1993.

Researchers noted that while they've established an association between the two conditions, there is no evidence that increased vitamin D intake during the 15-year period would have affected the results, as the study did not monitor the women's intake of the so-called sunshine vitamin.

The U.S. National Library of Medicine reports that the 25-hydroxy vitamin D test is the most accurate way to measure the amount of the nutrient in the body.