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| |  AHA: Antioxidants, At Certain Levels, May Reduce Blood Pressure By Jill Stein Special to DG News ANAHEIM, CA -- November 14, 2001 -- Investigators have documented that increasing levels of certain antioxidants, particularly beta-carotene and vitamin C, are independently associated with lower blood pressure values among adults in the United States. Dr. Jerome Abramson and associates at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, looked at cross-sectional data from the Third National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) in order to assess the relationship between serum levels of antioxidants and blood pressure in 15,142 individuals. The study cohort was considered to be representative of the U.S. adult population. He presented the results at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association (AHA). Dr. Abramson reported that, after adjusting for a variety of factors, increasing levels of serum beta- carotene were associated with significant reductions in systolic blood pressure, while increasing levels of serum vitamin C were associated with significant reductions in diastolic pressure. The factors that were controlled for in the analysis included age, sex, race, education, high-density lipoprotein levels, a history of myocardial infarction/angina/diabetes, body mass index, smoking status, physical activity, the current use of antihypertensive medications, and serum levels of other antioxidants. In contrast, serum levels of vitamin E were associated with significant increases in diastolic blood pressure. Dr. Abramson said that the results show that the relationship between serum anti-oxidant levels and blood pressure among US adults differs according to the type of anti-oxidant being considered and the type of blood pressure (systolic or diastolic) under study. The reasons for the different antioxidant effects on blood pressure need further study, he added. While prior research has investigated the association between antioxidants and blood pressure, the various investigations have had several limitations. These include the use of small sample sizes and specialized subgroups, which limited the “generalizability” of the findings. Trials have also failed to simultaneously compare the effects of different antioxidants on blood pressure and have produced conflicting results.
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