A study has linked high blood levels of vitamin C with lower blood pressure in young women. The study involved almost 250 women. They entered the trial when they were 8 to 11 years old, and over a 10-year period, their plasma levels of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and blood pressure were monitored. Both their systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings, were found to be inversely associated with ascorbic acid levels. Previous research had already linked high plasma levels of vitamin C with lower blood pressure among middle-age and older adults.A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed large amounts of vitamin C could reduce high blood pressure. Researchers here gathered data from 29 randomized, controlled clinical trials that looked at how vitamin C versus a placebo affected hypertension. They found that 500 milligrams (mg) of vitamin C daily – way more than the painfully low 90 mg recommended daily intake – could lower blood pressure. For people diagnosed with full-blown hypertension, those positive results became even greater.
For instance, researchers found vitamin C could reduce blood pressure almost as well as ACE inhibitors and diuretics, without the drugs’ side effects. That’s because vitamin C works as a natural diuretic to help blood vessel walls relax and lower blood pressure. The study concluded that if people took 500 mg of vitamin C every day, “there would be a lot fewer strokes.” That’s enough reason for me to take it. Fortunately, vitamin C does about a zillion other beneficial things. Regardless of those positive outcomes, researchers offered the typical fence-straddling reply about needing “more research to understand the implications of taking [vitamin C and other supplements].” This skepticism is nothing new. Linus Pauling, who a century ago championed mega-doses of vitamin C for heart disease, cancer, infections, and many other conditions, was branded a quack by the medical establishment. Despite criticism even today, Pauling’s reputation endures.
Dr. Hilary Roberts calls him the greatest ever American scientistand he remains the only person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes for chemistry and later peace. Pauling understood how this vitamin positively impacted numerous conditions way before the medical profession and food manufacturers hopped on the vitamin-C bandwagon. Today we have countless studies proving vitamin C’s effectiveness and safety in larger doses. One in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition for instance, found that two grams of vitamin C was completely safe for most adults. I know many experts who take three or more grams of vitamin C a day. More progressive practitioners often put people with chronic diseases like cancer and HIV on 10 or more grams with excellent results and no side effects. I want you to increase your vitamin C intake, but your go-to source should not be orange juice. I see juices commonly tout they contain 100% of your day’s vitamin C. Most are also loaded with enough sugar (some more than soda) to wipe away what benefits you get from this little bit of vitamin C.
So skip the juice, but eat plenty of vitamin-C rich vegetables and fruits. The top 10 sources of dietary vitamin C are… I want you to eat as many of these foods on a daily basis as possible. With the warm weather approaching, you can find abundant fresh fruits and vegetables at your local farmers market. To get therapeutic amounts of this multitasking vitamin, however, you’ll probably need to supplement:Taking large doses of vitamin C may moderately reduce blood pressure, according to an analysis of years of research by Johns Hopkins scientists. But the researchers stopped short of suggesting people load up on supplements. “Our research suggests a modest blood pressure lowering effect with vitamin C supplementation, but before we can recommend supplements as a treatment for high blood pressure, we really need more research to understand the implications of taking them,” says Edgar “Pete” R. Miller III, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in the division of general internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Roughly 30 percent of adults in the United States have high blood pressure, or hypertension, an important risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Successful treatment may include drugs, exercise, weight loss, and dietary changes such as reducing salt intake. Some experts believe that large amounts of vitamin C, an essential micronutrient found primarily in fruits and vegetables, could lower pressure as well, but randomized, controlled dietary intervention studies — the gold standard of nutrition research — have produced mixed results. Miller and his colleagues reviewed and analyzed data from 29 randomized, controlled, previously published clinical trials that reported systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure values and also compared vitamin C intake to a placebo. What they found is that taking an average of 500 milligrams of vitamin C daily — about five times the recommended daily requirement — reduced blood pressure by 3.84 millimeters of mercury in the short term. Among those diagnosed with hypertension, the drop was nearly 5 millimeters of mercury.
By comparison, Miller says, patients who take blood pressure medication such as ACE inhibitors or diuretics (so-called “water pills”) can expect a roughly 10 millimeter of mercury reduction in blood pressure. Five hundred milligrams of vitamin C is the amount in about six cups of orange juice. The recommended daily intake of vitamin C for adults is 90 milligrams. “Although our review found only a moderate impact on blood pressure, if the entire U.S. population lowered blood pressure by 3 milliliters of mercury, there would be a lot fewer strokes,” Miller says. Miller cautions, however, that none of the studies his team reviewed show that vitamin C directly prevents or reduces rates of cardiovascular disease, including stroke. Scientists have focused on vitamin C’s potential role in blood pressure reduction because of the nutrient’s biological and physiological effects. For example, vitamin C may act as a diuretic, causing the kidneys to remove more sodium and water from the body, which helps to relax the blood vessel walls, thereby lowering blood pressure.