Vitamin C has many positive effects on the body, and modestly lowering high blood pressure could be one of those effects.
A review of 29 studies about the effect of vitamin C on blood pressure showed that taking 500 milligrams per day of vitamin C in supplement form caused a three- to five-point drop in systolic blood pressure, while diastolic pressure dropped by just less than two points.
The review was
conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and
published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2012. Subjects with high blood pressure had a bigger drop than those with normal blood pressure readings.
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Five-hundred milligrams of vitamin C is equivalent to about six glasses of orange juice and represents about five to six times the recommended daily intake, according to Johns Hopkins.
The 500-milligram dose is well under the Institute of Medicine’s daily maximum limit of 2,000 milligrams per day for adults.
Although the drop in blood pressure is only about half of what patients get from taking blood pressure lowering drugs, vitamin C has no side effects and can be combined with other natural treatments for maximum impact,
according to Dr. Joseph Mercola.
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Study leader Dr. Edgar R. Miller said that researchers don’t yet understand how vitamin C works to lower blood pressure, but that a three-point drop in the entire U.S. population could lead to “a lot fewer strokes.”
The studies reviewed do not show a direct effect of vitamin C on either cardiovascular disease or stroke, according to Miller.
Vitamin C has long been known to act as an antioxidant to impact the severity and longevity of colds and to have other positive effects on the health of the body,
according to the National Institutes of Health.
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