Lowering blood pressure with B group vitamins

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Hypertension and vitamin B: lowering blood pressure

B vitamins, thiamine (B1) and folacin (folate, B9), have been associated with a reduction in blood pressure

According to a statistical study based on supplements published by the American Heart Association, B vitamins could have favorable effects on blood pressure and help lower it.

Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is the primary cause of heart disease worldwide. Certain nutritional habits such as salt use are well known for being connected with an increase in blood pressure. Two ample existing studies, INTERMAP and NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey), were used for an associative study on a wide range of supplements. INTERMAP is an international collaborative study on macro and micro supplements and blood pressure. The interdisciplinary study was carried out on 4680 men and women between 40 and 59 years of age, from 17 different countries including China, Japan and the USA. Eighty-two nutritional substances deriving from foods and supplements were identified and the information was collected through interviews about the individuals’ diets.

The ample nutritional study did not just revise and confirm the findings of INTERMAP and NHANES, but also identified new relationships that had previously gone unnoticed.

The new discoveries that the previous studies had failed to identify are based on B vitamins and their ability to lower blood pressure. Consumption of thiamine (B1), folate (B9) and riboflavin (B2) was found to be inversely correlated with blood pressure.

Observing a correlation is not the same as identifying a cause, but identifying these relations offers a big help to future research attempting to lower blood pressure.

Further evaluation through clinical testing are needed to determine whether B vitamins could prevent cardiovascular diseases due to high blood pressure.

We recommend another article on the benefits of beetroot, containing high levels of vitamin B, particularly for lowering blood pressure.

 

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