CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Women who drank more fat-free milk and consumed more calcium and vitamin D -- not from supplements -- had a lower risk of hypertension, a U.S. study found.
Researchers at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., examined the diets of nearly 30,000 middle-aged and older women and found those who consumed more low-fat milk and milk products and had diets higher in calcium and vitamin D from foods were better protected against high blood pressure.
Women who drank two or more servings of fat-free milk each day reduced their risk for high blood pressure by up to 10 percent compared to those who drank fat-free milk less than once a month.
However, this did not appear to be true with higher-fat milk and milk products or calcium and vitamin D supplement users, the study said.
In the last decade, there has been significant increases in uncontrolled high blood pressure in U.S. women, a condition that puts them at serious risk for cardiovascular disease, stroke and kidney failure.
The study was published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension.
