Years ago, I posted about a study which concluded that vitamin D is as effective as pharma drugs for lowering blood pressure. The doses used in that study were considered pharmacological, but amounted to no more than 4,000 IU daily. The study below corroborates those findings, even in people with obesity, and even with much lower doses of vitamin D. Namely, as low as 600 IU daily may be sufficient to reduce blood pressure, especially in obese people, but I think the optimal dose may be highly dependent on the specific person based on factors such as age, weight, diet, physical activity, medication, etc. Some studies concluded that for certain groups of people doses up to 8,000 IU may be needed to produce the desired benefits, and that the current RDA for vitamin D established by the FDA were based on several studies that grossly underestimated daily needs by a factor of at least ten (10). So, the 400 IU daily that FDA recommends for adults, may in fact be close to 4,000 IU daily, and that is just to prevent deficiency. Thus, while the study below did not find increased benefit from doses close to 4,000 IU daily, I’d say the jury is still out on that one.
https://doi.org/10.1210/jendso/bvae168
“…New research published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society suggests that vitamin D supplements may help lower blood pressure in older adults with obesity. However, taking doses higher than the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) recommended 600 International Units (IU) per day does not appear to provide additional health benefits. Vitamin D deficiency is widespread globally and has been linked to increased risks of heart disease, immune disorders, infections, and some cancers. While prior studies have associated vitamin D deficiency with a higher likelihood of hypertension, the overall effect of vitamin D supplementation on blood pressure remains unclear. “Our study found vitamin D supplementation may decrease blood pressure in specific subgroups such older people, people with obesity, and possibly those with low vitamin D levels,” said Ghada El-Hajj Fuleihan, M.D., M.P.H., F.R.C.P., of the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Beirut, Lebanon. “High vitamin D doses compared to the IOM’s recommended daily dose did not provide additional health benefits.”
