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Genetic research clarifies link between hypertension and vitamin D deficiency
Science Codex ^ | June 10, 2013 | NA

Posted on 06/10/2013 10:24:35 PM PDT by neverdem

Paris, France: Low levels of vitamin D can trigger hypertension, according to the world's largest study to examine the causal association between the two. Although observational studies have already shown this link, a large-scale genetic study was necessary before the cause and effect could be proven, the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) will hear today (Tuesday).

Dr. Vimal Karani S, from the Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, UK, will tell the meeting that data from the D-CarDia collaboration, involving 35 studies, over 155,000 individuals, and numerous centres in Europe and North America, showed that those with high concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) had reduced blood pressure and therefore a reduced risk of hypertension. "We knew from earlier observational studies that low 25(OH)D concentrations were likely to be associated with increases in blood pressure and hypertension, but correlation is not causality", he says. "Additionally, randomised controlled trials of vitamin D supplementation in humans have produced inconsistent effects on cardiovascular outcomes. The whole picture was somewhat confused, and we decided to try to figure it out once and for all."

The researchers used genetic variants known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs*, as proxy markers to reflect individual's vitamin D status in order to test for a causal association with blood pressure and hypertension. When the results were analysed, they found a significant link; for every 10% increase in 25(OH)D concentrations, there was a 8.1% decrease in the risk of developing hypertension.

"Even with the likely presence of unobserved confounding factors", Dr. Karani S will say, "the approach we followed, known as Mendelian randomisation, allows us to draw conclusions about causality because the genetic influence on disease is not affected by confounding. To put it in simple terms, by using this approach we can determine the cause and effect and be pretty sure that we've come to the right conclusion on the subject."

Low vitamin D status is common throughout the western world, the researchers say, and hence these data have important public health implications. The best-known manifestation of vitamin D deficiency is the childhood bone disease rickets, where long bones are weakened by the deficiency and start to bend. Recently, however, Vitamin D has been implicated in a number of other non-skeletal-related conditions, but studies involving supplementation have given conflicting results.

"Our study strongly suggests that some cases of cardiovascular disease could be prevented through vitamin D supplements or food fortification", says Dr. Karani S. "Our new data provide further support for the important non-skeletal effects of vitamin D. We now intend to continue this work by examining the causal relationship between vitamin D status and other cardiovascular disease-related outcomes such as lipid-related phenotypes, for example, cholesterol, inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein, and type 2 diabetes and markers of glucose metabolism. We believe that we still have a lot to find out about the effect of Vitamin D deficiency on health, and we now know that we have the tools to do so."

Source: European Society of Human Genetics


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bloodpressure; genetics; hypertension; nutriceuticals; vitamind; vitaminddeficiency; vitd

1 posted on 06/10/2013 10:24:35 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem
Another good reason to end Welfare and make the poor take the jobs illegal immigrants are doing.
2 posted on 06/10/2013 10:56:42 PM PDT by Razz Barry (Round'em up, send'em home.)
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To: Razz Barry

Yes, I agree. Life is a lot of fun, but it’s quiet when the goldfish die.


3 posted on 06/10/2013 11:11:42 PM PDT by cydcharisse (`)
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To: neverdem

My doctor told me that many people with high BP have lower BP in the summer, so maybe it’s, in part, the Vit. D from the sun.

I read you only need 20 minutes, which is good, because of the skin cancer dangers.


4 posted on 06/10/2013 11:29:40 PM PDT by Sun (Pray that God sends us good leaders. Please say a prayer now.)
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To: neverdem
I have to take two blood pressure depressors. One of them has been very expensive (but recently went generic), but works cooperative to modify the cheaper one. The warning on it says "Prolonged or excessive exposure to direct and/or artificial sunlight should be avoided while taking this medication." So no vitamin D from sun. Go figure.

(For another reason, I have been self-medicating with vitamin D3 every day, for mental attitude and calcium uptake. Whew!) My physician also suggested to take fish oil (Omega-3) and 1 aspirin every day.

The story: Take one medicine. Then another to modify the first. Then another because of the first two. Then more because of those. Etc, etc, etc?

5 posted on 06/11/2013 12:34:11 AM PDT by imardmd1
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To: Sun
“My doctor told me that many people with high BP have lower BP in the summer, so maybe it’s, in part, the Vit. D from the sun.”

You also tend to lose more salt and water in warmer weather, and your peripheral vasculature dilates when it is warm (to accommodate heat loss). So, like most things in biology and medicine, it's multifactorial.

6 posted on 06/11/2013 2:07:54 AM PDT by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: neverdem

Bump


7 posted on 06/11/2013 2:17:45 AM PDT by Fzob (In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. Jefferson)
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To: El Gato; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; LadyDoc; jb6; tiamat; PGalt; Dianna; ...
Hairy proteins survive stomach trip

Drug Combo Helps Immune System Fight Tumors

Gene Therapy ... Against the Flu?

Medicinal marijuana stops seizures, brings hope to a little Black Forest girl

What is Dravet Syndrome?

8 posted on 06/11/2013 7:55:41 AM PDT by neverdem (Register pressure cookers! /s)
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To: neverdem

I had to have my colon out. The colon is where vitamins D,E, A, and K are absorbed. My GP always tells me my D3 is low and so I increase my oral intake. I get in sun in summer but i have very little pigment and prone to bad sun burn. Putting sun screen on defeats purpose of getting D3 from sun. My question: you think it is ok to just overload on oral D3? I take 6000 now


9 posted on 06/11/2013 8:04:47 AM PDT by ncpatriot
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To: Razz Barry
Another good reason to end Welfare and make the poor take the jobs illegal immigrants are doing.

WHOA - talk about getting two birds with one stone...

10 posted on 06/11/2013 9:39:35 AM PDT by GOPJ (The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it - Josef Mengele (new NSA motto))
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To: neverdem

Avoid getting twenty minutes of sun to have young appearing skin, and you can add hypertension to Parkinson disease in adults and rickets to kids.

How many sun avoiders are depressed because they don’t get the necessary daily sunlight to enjoy life?


11 posted on 06/11/2013 10:12:02 AM PDT by Grampa Dave ('How empty and dead' were they to let Chris Stevens, one of them , die for 'Obama-Clinton fiction?')
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To: pieceofthepuzzle

Salt causing hbp is another myth foisted on Americans by the diet Nazis looking for ways to make money.

There maybe a very few people who should restrict their salt intake.

Salt Causes High Blood Pressure - The Truth Behind 5 Food Myths
http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/food_myths/Salt_Causes_High_Blood_Pressure.php - 96k - Cached - Similar pages
Myth #5: “Salt causes high blood pressure and should be avoided. ... For instance, spinach, broccoli, bananas, white potatoes, and most types of beans each ..... studies proving that salt doesn’t increase hypertension in people with normal BP?

Myth or Fact: Salt Increases Blood Pressure / Nutrition / Healthy Eating
http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/myth-or-fact-salt-increases-blood-pressure.html - 21k - Cached - Similar pages
Many people are filling their grocery carts with “low-sodium” products, ... most Americans could stand to cut back on the salt; salt doesn’t cause high blood pressure. More accurately high blood pressure causes damage to blood vessels which ...

We Only Think We Know the Truth About Salt - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/opinion/sunday/we-only-think-we-know-the-truth-about-salt.html?pagewanted=all - - Cached - Similar pages

Jun 2, 2012 ... Salt consumption is said to raise blood pressure, cause .... These covered some 100,000 people in more than 30 countries and showed that salt ... raising it is a shill for the food industry and doesn’t care about saving lives.

It’s Time to End the War on Salt: Scientific American
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt - 252k - Cached - Similar pages
Jul 8, 2011... salt causes hypertension: he induced high blood pressure in rats by feeding ... This is what causes the disease processes they are saying salt does not cause. ... My practical expierence tells me most people will be slightly swollen after ... Seriously though the topic doesn’t do much for me because I eat so ...
Blaming dietary sodium for high blood pressure is too simplistic; the ...
http://www.naturalnews.com/015820_blood_pressure_hypertension.html - 93k - Cached - Similar pages

Dec 14, 2005 ... Now salt doesn’t raise blood pressure in everyone, only in those whom ... In most people, eating salt does not increase the risk of high blood ...


12 posted on 06/11/2013 10:17:34 AM PDT by Grampa Dave ('How empty and dead' were they to let Chris Stevens, one of them , die for 'Obama-Clinton fiction?')
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To: ncpatriot
I had to have my colon out. The colon is where vitamins D,E, A, and K are absorbed. My GP always tells me my D3 is low and so I increase my oral intake. I get in sun in summer but i have very little pigment and prone to bad sun burn. Putting sun screen on defeats purpose of getting D3 from sun. My question: you think it is ok to just overload on oral D3? I take 6000 now

The small intestine, mostly the jejunem and ileum, is where vitamins D, E, A, and K, the fat soluble vitamins, are absorbed. The large intestine, the ascending, transverve, descending and sigmoid colon, mostly helps to maintain water and electrolyte homeostasis in conjunction with the kidneys. Consider a fecal fat test to rule out fat malabsorption.

You may need tto consider vitamin D injections; 300,000 IU of vitamin D has been used intramuscularly as bolus dose of vitamin D2 or D3, three times per year, and 600,000 IU (15 milligrams) of vitamin D has been used as single injections.

Talk to your doc.

13 posted on 06/11/2013 11:34:40 AM PDT by neverdem (Register pressure cookers! /s)
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To: Grampa Dave
Blood pressure is determined by two parameters, cardiac output (the amount of blood pumped by the heart per minute) and the resistance in the peripheral vasculature. It's really not very different than a plumber thinking about the pressure in pipes of a certain diameter with a specific flow rate.

There are a lot of things that can increase vascular resistance (e.g. specific circulating factors that affect the contractile state of the small muscular blood vessels that determine vascular resistance), and a lot a ways cardiac output can be affected, including increased blood volume secondary to salt intake in susceptible individuals.

The bottom line is that it is complex, and there are a lot of different reasons people can have high blood pressure. The sensitivity to salt intake is definitely affected by genetics. There are rats that get high blood pressure when exposed to dietary salt, but normal rats don't.

Anyway, I agree with you that salt probably doesn't have much of an effect on people with normal baseline blood pressure. There are those who have to think about this though.

14 posted on 06/11/2013 8:19:39 PM PDT by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: pieceofthepuzzle

“The bottom line is that it is complex, and there are a lot of different reasons people can have high blood pressure. The sensitivity to salt intake is definitely affected by genetics. There are rats that get high blood pressure when exposed to dietary salt, but normal rats don’t.”

That is the key not knee jerking/banning of salt with any patient with some hbp based on economic greed not scientific double blind studies.

I wish I could have the net profit from just one days movement of salt free/low salt additives and food. That would provide income for decades for generations of my current family and those not here yet


15 posted on 06/12/2013 8:29:07 AM PDT by Grampa Dave ('How empty and dead' were they to let Chris Stevens, one of them , die for 'Obama-Clinton fiction?')
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To: pieceofthepuzzle

Interesting! Thanx for the info.!


16 posted on 06/12/2013 8:23:17 PM PDT by Sun (Pray that God sends us good leaders. Please say a prayer now.)
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