Research Reveals Vitamin Link To Curbing Blood Pressure

University of Ulster nutrition experts say that one in ten people in Northern Ireland, depending on their genes, could significantly lower their blood pressure and, in turn, their risk of heart disease and stroke by increasing their intake of vitamin B2, which is found in dairy products.

The advice from researchers at the Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health (NICHE) on the Coleraine campus, follows their important discovery that vitamin B2 - also known as riboflavin - reduces high blood pressure which is often linked to a particular genetic factor found in 10% of the population.

High blood pressure is the leading cause of stroke and heart disease which, together, are responsible for about one-third of all deaths in Northern Ireland.

The research was conducted in conjunction with staff at Antrim and Altnagelvin Hospitals and Trinity College Dublin. The findings have been published in the world's leading nutrition journal, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The research was funded by the Northern Ireland Department for Employment and Learning and in part by a research grant from the Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke Association.

The research was conducted by NICHE research associate Dr Carol Wilson as part of her PhD studies. NICHE is the human health nutrition unit of Ulster’s top-performing Biomedical Sciences Research Institute (BMSRI). In the most recent national assessment of research excellence, the BMSRI’s work established Ulster as one of the UK’s top two universities in biomedical sciences.

Dr Wilson outlined her findings in Londonderry at the 4th Annual Translational Medicine Conference (TMED4) organised by C-TRIC, the pioneering translational medicine facility based in the grounds of the Altnagelvin Hospital campus.

Her research followed on from previous studies by a fellow NICHE researcher,, Dr Geraldine Horigan, who will also speak conference, about the possible implications of the riboflavin finding for future management of hypertension.

The conference, which continues on today, has a range of high profile speakers representing many aspects of the rapidly expanding translational medicine sector in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Dr Wilson said: "These findings are so exciting because they focus on novel non-drug treatment for high blood pressure, targeted at individuals with a particular genetic factor. The blood pressure lowering response described in this research paper is hugely relevant in terms of its clinical implications."

(CD/GK)