Vitamin D supplements may lower blood pressure in older people with obesity and taking more than the Institutes of Medicine’s (IOM) recommended daily dose does not provide additional health benefits, according to new research published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.

The IOM recommends 600 International Units (IU) per day.

Vitamin D deficiency is common worldwide and has been associated with heart disease, immunological diseases, infections and cancer.

Studies have linked vitamin D deficiency to a higher risk of hypertension, but evidence for the beneficial effect of vitamin D supplementation on blood pressure outcomes is inconclusive.

“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, MD, MPH, FRCP, 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.”

The researchers studied 221 older people with obesity taking vitamin D supplements at either 600 IU/day or 3,750 IU/day over the course of a year and found supplementation decreased their blood pressure.

The researchers compared the two groups and found higher doses of vitamin D did not provide additional health benefits.

They determined people with obesity and those with low vitamin D levels benefited the most.

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