What Occurs To Your Blood Pressure When You Don’t Get Enough Calcium

Overconsumption of salt in the diet may spring to mind when considering one of the main causes of elevated blood pressure. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that about half of Americans have high blood pressure, which may be explained by the fact that most Americans eat diets heavy in sodium.

The CDC advises reducing your salt intake and increasing your intake of foods high in potassium, such as yogurt, black beans, and bananas, in order to reduce your blood pressure naturally. Potassium helps your body get rid of extra salt and balances your fluid levels, which lowers blood pressure. Blood pressure-lowering diets, like the DASH eating plan, emphasize foods high in potassium, magnesium, fiber, and calcium while cutting back on sodium to 1,500 mg per day. Why is calcium present? Your arteries can contract and relax more easily when calcium is present. If you don’t get enough calcium in your diet, you may notice an increase in blood pressure.

How blood pressure is impacted by calcium

A 2019 research in Nutrients found that although calcium is commonly thought of as the mineral that protects your bones, it actually accomplishes much more. Your parathyroid gland produces a hormone that narrows your blood vessels while conserving the calcium in your body when you don’t get enough of it. In addition to lowering blood pressure, a low-calcium diet also causes the release of calcitriol.

A review of several research examining the relationship between calcium intake and hypertension risk was published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2019. Among over two hundred fifty individuals, the group with the highest calcium intake had an eleven percent lower risk of hypertension than the group with the lowest calcium intake. The more foods high in calcium, the better. A diet high in calcium will reduce your risk of hypertension by 7% for every 500 mg.

Diets low in calcium may also have an impact on body mass index, per a 2016 Public Health Nutrition article. Individuals with a BMI of 25 or above and high blood pressure tended to consume meals substantially lower in calcium. Your risk of heart disease is increased by two factors: obesity and high blood pressure.

Supplemental calcium might not reduce blood pressure

One might think that taking a calcium supplement to increase your calcium intake would lower your blood pressure. A 2017 review published in the Journal of Human Hypertension claims not much. Men’s systolic blood pressure increased slightly, although taking calcium supplements had no discernible impact on blood pressure in eight controlled trials with almost 36,000 participants. According to a 2022 Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews study, using calcium supplements may lower blood pressure by 1.45 and 1.37 systolic points. Supplementing with calcium had a greater impact on men and those under 35.

You can obtain enough calcium from meals every day, instead of depending on calcium pills. The average adult needs 1,000 mg of calcium per day; adults over 70 and women over 50 require 1,200 mg. About 30% of your daily calcium intake can be obtained from a 6-ounce container of yogurt, one ounce of romano cheese, or a cup of low-fat milk. If a vegetarian wants half their calcium, they can have a cup of tofu. You get about 10% of your daily calcium from a half cup of cooked kale.