The Impact of Vitamin D in the Treatment of Essential Hypertension
1
Institute of Biomedicine, Pharmacology, Aarhus University, Wilhelm Meyers Allé 4, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
2
Clinic for Plastic, Aesthetic and Hand Surgery, Otto von Guericke University, Leipziger Str. 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
3
Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2018, 19(2), 455; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms19020455
Received: 12 January 2018
/
Revised: 30 January 2018
/
Accepted: 31 January 2018
/
Published: 3 February 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vitamin D and Human Health)
The aim of this review is to investigate, whether there is a possible link between vitamin D supplementation and the reduction of blood pressure in hypertensive patients. The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is known for being deeply involved in cardiovascular tonus and blood pressure regulation. Hence, many of the pharmaceutical antihypertensive drugs inhibit this system. Interestingly, experimental studies in mice have indicated that vitamin D supplementation significantly lowers renin synthesis and blood pressure. It is conceivable that similar mechanisms may be found in the human organism. Regarding this, large-scale cross-sectional studies suggest the serum 25(OH)D-level to be inversely correlated to the prevalence of hypertension. However, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have not found a clear association between vitamin D supplementation and improvements in hypertension. Nevertheless, the missing association of vitamin D and hypertension in clinical trials can be due to suboptimal study designs. There are hints that restoration of serum 25(OH)D levels during vitamin D therapy is essential to achieve possible beneficial cardiovascular effects. It is important to perform long-term trials with a short dose interval and a high bioavailability of supplementation. Taken together, more RCTs are required to further investigate if vitamin D can be beneficial for the reduction of blood pressure.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
vitamin D; hypertension; essential hypertension; renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS); cholecalciferol
▼
Show Figures
Graphical abstract
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Legarth, C.; Grimm, D.; Wehland, M.; Bauer, J.; Krüger, M. The Impact of Vitamin D in the Treatment of Essential Hypertension. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2018, 19, 455. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms19020455
AMA Style
Legarth C, Grimm D, Wehland M, Bauer J, Krüger M. The Impact of Vitamin D in the Treatment of Essential Hypertension. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2018; 19(2):455. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms19020455
Chicago/Turabian StyleLegarth, Christian, Daniela Grimm, Markus Wehland, Johann Bauer, and Marcus Krüger. 2018. "The Impact of Vitamin D in the Treatment of Essential Hypertension" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 19, no. 2: 455. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms19020455
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
