Vitamin C Lowers Blood Pressure In Women

This "strongly suggests that vitamin C is specifically important in maintaining a healthy blood pressure," lead author Dr. Gladys Block, of the University of California, Berkeley, told Reuters Health.
Previous research linked high plasma levels of vitamin C with lower blood pressure among middle-age and older adults, typically those with higher than optimal blood pressure readings, Block and colleagues report in the Nutrition Journal.
The current study involved 242 black and white women, between 18 and 21 years old, with normal blood pressures, who were participants in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study. The girls had entered the trial when they were 8 to 11 years old. Over a 10-year period, their plasma levels of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and blood pressure were monitored.
At year 10, Block and her colleagues found that blood pressure, both the systolic and diastolic (top and bottom reading), was inversely associated with ascorbic acid levels.
Specifically, women with the highest levels of ascorbic acid had a decline of about 4.66 mm Hg in systolic and 6.04 mm Hg in diastolic blood pressure compared with women with the lowest ascorbic acid levels. This difference still held true after researchers allowed for differences in body mass, race, education levels, and dietary fat and sodium intake.
Women with the lowest levels of plasma ascorbic acid likely consumed average amounts of fruits, vegetables, and fortified foods while those with the highest plasma ascorbic acid levels likely ate diets rich in fruits and vegetables or took multivitamins or vitamin C supplements, the researchers note.
Further analyses of vitamin C and blood pressure changes over the previous year, "also strongly suggested that the people with the highest blood level of vitamin C had the least increase in blood pressure," Block said.
Since these findings infer a possible association between vitamin C and blood pressure in healthy young adults, Block and colleagues call for further investigations in this population.
SOURCE: Nutrition Journal, December 17, 2008

Can Your iPod Give Relief for High Blood Pressure?

Tuning in to mellow music could bring your blood pressure down, suggests a study from the University of Florence in Italy. For a half hour daily, 28 people on medication for mild hypertension listened to classical, Celtic, or Indian music and performed abdominal breathing exercises. After four weeks, they showed a significant drop in systolic pressure. A control group showed no significant changes.

Doing breathing exercises and listening to mellow music help slow down your sympathetic nervous system, resulting in lower blood pressure, explains Stephen Devries, M.D., preventive cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. If you can't carve out a half hour each day, Devries recommends taking 10 minutes whenever you get the chance. So before bed, on your lunch break, or on the train, he says, "pop in your earbuds, call up a play list of soothing songs, and practice breathing techniques."

Spinal Adjustments May Lower Blood Pressure

Chiropractic journal reports results of new study.

(12-13-08)Canton, GA. According to a recent article in The Journal of Chiropractic Education, a team of New Zealand researchers has found a correlation between chiropractic adjustments of the neck and lower back and reduced blood pressure.

The 63 participants in the case study were divided into two random groups. After subjecting those studied to a short period of relaxation in a sitting position, chiropractors took blood pressure readings from both arms of the subjects. In the experimental group, a spinal adjustment of the cervical (neck), lumbosacral (lower back), and thoracic (chest) area was performed – depending on needs of the individual patients. In the control group, patients received only gentle digital pressure on their spine. The same doctors who recorded the initial blood pressure results (and who performed the adjustments or digital pressure) then took new readings.

The results were surprising. To date, most studies concerning the effects of a chiropractic adjustment on one’s blood pressure have been inconclusive. The New Zealand study, however, showed a direct impact on participants’ blood pressure levels. Those in the experimental group showed “statistically significant changes of systolic and diastolic blood pressure.” Subjects whose cervical (neck) and lumbosacral (lower back) were adjusted showed a decrease in their blood pressure, while subjects whose thoracic (chest) was adjusted showed an increase in blood pressure. In contrast, the control group, which received no adjustments but only gentle digital pressure, showed much less significant changes in blood pressure.


It is too early to assess the clinical aspects of these results,” Dr. Mike Headlee said when contacted about the study. Dr. Headlee, whose chiropractic office is located in Canton, GA, follows developments in chiropractic science closely.

“I am encouraged by these promising results,” Dr. Headlee said. “However, further trials on vertebral subluxation—that is, a mechanical problem in the spine that disrupts proper functioning of the body’s nervous system—and its effects on blood pressure are needed and should include longer term follow-up as well.”

Those seeking additional information regarding this study may contact Dr. Mike Headlee directly at 206 Sawtooth Ct, Canton, GA, 30114, telephone (770) 720-6813.


Reference:
Kelly Holt, B. Sc. (Chiro), Randy W. Beck, B. Sc., D.C., Ph. D., New Zealand College of Chiropractic, and Stephen G. Sexton, B. App. Sc. (Clin.), B. Chiro. Sci., D.A.C.N.B., Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies. “Reflex Effects of a Spinal Adjustment on Blood Pressure,” The Journal of Chiropractic Education, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2006.