Summary: In a cross-sectional study involving 242 healthy young women (Black and White) between the ages of 18 and 21 years, who were followed for 10 years, plasma levels of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) were found to be inversely associated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Subjects in the highest fourth of plasma ascorbic acid levels were found to have systolic blood pressure 4.66 mm Hg lower and diastolic blood pressure 6.04 mm Hg lower than those in the lowest fourth of plasma ascorbic acid levels. The study also found that plasma ascorbic acid was inversely associated with change in blood pressure during the previous year (those with higher plasma ascorbic acid levels had significantly less increases in blood pressure over the previous year as compared to the increases in blood pressure found among those with lower plasma ascorbic acid levels). The authors conclude, “Since lower BP in young adulthood may lead to lower BP and decreased incidence of age-associated vascular events in older adults, further investigation of treatment effects of vitamin C on BP regulation in young adults is warranted.”
Block G, Jensen CD, Norkus EP, Hudes M, Crawford PB. Vitamin C in plasma is inversely related to blood pressure and change in blood pressure during the previous year in young Black and White women.Nutr J. 2008 Dec 17;7:35. View Abstract View Full Paper
