Vitamin C has been traditionally used as a home remedy for lowering blood pressure, and a study by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine and the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University seem to confirm that vitamin C is a useful tool for lowering blood pressure in hypertensives.

The study included 45 hypertensive adults and was double-blind and placebo controlled. After patients took 500 milligrams of vitamin C per day for one month there was about a 9% decrease in both their systolic and diastolic readings. Patients on the placebo also saw a small drop in their diastolic blood pressure and vitamin C seems to have no effect on people who already have normal blood pressure.

“One theory that could explain the results is that vitamin C works as an antioxidant in the human body,” said Balz Frei, a co-author of the research as well as a professor and director of the Linus Pauling Institute, “In doing that, it would help protect the body’s level of nitric oxide, which is important to blood vessel function.”

SOURCES:

Oregon State University (1999, December 21). Vitamin C Can Reduce High Blood Pressure, Study Finds. Oregon State University. Retrieved September 26, 2008, from http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/1999/Dec99/level.htm

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