Does oral calcium supplementation lower high blood pressure? A double blind study.
Eighteen unselected patients with untreated mild to moderate essential hypertension, whose average supine blood pressure after 2 months' observation on no treatment was 154/103 mmHg, were entered into a double-blind randomized crossover study of 1 month's treatment with calcium lactate gluconate (40 mmol of elemental calcium/day) and treatment with placebo for a further month. Despite a significant increase in total plasma calcium (P less than 0.01) and in 24-h urinary excretion of calcium (P less than 0.025) while taking calcium lactate gluconate, there was no fall in blood pressure with calcium supplementation compared to treatment with placebo.
Cappuccio
F P
FP
Markandu
N D
ND
Singer
D R
DR
Smith
S J
SJ
Shore
A C
AC
MacGregor
G A
GA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011897:Random Allocation
D002118:Calcium