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Vitamin D deficiency leads to higher blood pressure

Low blood concentrations of vitamin D may be
associated with higher blood pressure in whites, indicating a risk of
developing hypertension, or high blood that requires medical treatment,
researchers report. However, this relationship was not noted among
blacks.

"Though easily corrected by taking a vitamin D
supplement or having causal sunlight exposure, vitamin D insufficiency
is highly prevalent in the United States," Dr. Vin Tangpricha told
Reuters Health.

Tangpricha and colleagues, all from Emory University School of
Medicine in Atlanta, looked at the association between systolic blood
pressure - the top number of the blood pressure reading representing
the pressure during contraction of the heart muscle -- and vitamin D
levels among 7,699 adults without high blood pressure. Forty-seven
percent were male, 61 percent were white, and 39 percent were black.

The study population had participated in the third National Health
and Examination Survey conducted from 1988 to 1994, which provides the
most recent nationally representative data on vitamin D concentrations
among U.S. adults, the investigators report in the American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition.

Overall, 61 percent of whites and 92 percent of blacks had vitamin D
deficiency. Most (63 percent) of the participants were 18 to 49 years
old, and 37 percent were 50 years or older when systolic blood pressure
and vitamin D measurements were obtained.

The investigators found that white participants with sufficient
vitamin D levels had a 20-percent lower rise in age-associated systolic
blood pressure compared with those with insufficient vitamin D levels.
This relationship was not statistically significant in blacks.

"This paper does not provide direct evidence that vitamin D supplementation will lower blood pressure," Tangpricha cautions.

He and colleagues suggest that further research examine in more
detail how vitamin D status affects blood pressure in black and white
populations. Improved methods for detecting vitamin D deficiency are
also necessary, they conclude.

High Dairy in Childhood Linked with Cancer Risk

Children who consume high levels of diary products may have a greater risk of developing colorectal cancer in adulthood, study findings suggest.

Among nearly 5,000 individuals followed for an average of 65 years, those who grew up in families reporting the highest levels of dairy consumption -- nearly 2 cups per day -- had close to three-times the risk of colorectal cancer compared with those from families reporting the lowest intake, Dr. Jolieke C. van der Pols and colleagues report.

The level of milk consumption in the high-diary group was similar to the estimated average daily intake of children in the United States, van der Pols, of the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, and colleagues noted.

Links between colorectal cancer risk and childhood exposure to dairy products have not been previously evaluated, the researchers said.

Using data from a study of weekly food consumption in families living in England or Scotland from 1937 to 1939, the researchers estimated the daily dairy intake ranged from less than half a cup at the lowest to nearly 2 cups at the highest. Nearly all, 94 percent, of the diary produces came from drinking milk, they report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Among the 4,374 individuals still available for follow-up between 1948 and 2005, the investigators identified 35 registrations and 41 deaths from colorectal cancer.

An increased risk of colorectal cancer among those who consumed the highest amounts of dairy during childhood was still seen after the investigators adjusted the data for potentially influential factors such as meat, fruit, and vegetable consumption; and socioeconomic status.

However, van der Pols' group cautions that more complete life-course assessments comparing dairy intake with related dietary and lifestyle factors must be completed before definitive conclusions can be made for dairy intake in childhood.

SOURCE: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, December 2007.

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