Fortified Milk Doesnt Affect Blood Pressure

VICTORIA, Australia—A recent study found supplementation with reduced-fat calcium-vitamin D3 fortified milk did not have a beneficial (nor detrimental) effect on blood pressure, lipid or lipoprotein concentrations in healthy community-dwelling older men (Eu J Clin Nutr. 2009;63:993-1000).

The two-year randomized controlled trial assigned 167 men older than 50 years to receive either 400 ml/d of reduced fat (1 percent) milk fortified with approximately 1000 mg of calcium and 800 IU of vitamin D3 or to a control group receiving no additional fortified milk. Weight, blood pressure, lipid and lipoprotein concentrations were measured every six months.

In the 140 men included in this study (milk, n=73; control, n=67), there were no significant effects of the calcium-vitamin D3 fortified milk on weight, systolic or diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol or triglyceride concentrations at any time throughout the intervention. Similar results were observed after excluding men taking antihypertensive or lipid-lowering medication or limiting the analysis to those with baseline calcium intakes of less than 1000 mg/d and/or with hypovitaminosis D.