A study of almost 1,500 women led researchers to conclude that Vitamin D (plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D) levels are “inversely and independently associated with the risk of developing hypertension.”

The women, from the second Nurses’ Health Study, were 32 to 52 years old and were not hypertensive at the beginning of the study. Factors such as age, race, use of other drugs and family history were all considered in evaluating the results. In the end, the study revealed that 65.7% of the women were vitamin D deficient and statisticians believe this deficiency increased their odds of developing hypertension. The study’s authors also noted that, “If this association [between vitamin D and hypertension] is causal, then vitamin D deficiency may account for 23.7% of all new cases of hypertension developing among young women every year.”

For more information see “Plasma 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels and Risk of Incident Hypertension Among Young Women” in the November issue of the journal Hypertension 2008;52:828-832. Online the abstract is located at http://hyper.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/52/5/828.