The University of Pisa in Italy came out with a study that showed that intravenous vitamin C, in the dosage commonly given in the Myer’s cocktail, lowered blood pressure by decreasing the stress response acutely.
AHN StaffPisa, Italy (AHN) – Intravenously delivered vitamin C helps lowering high blood pressure by calming an overactive central nervous system, new Italian research suggests.
Lead author Dr. Rosa Maria Bruno from the University of Pisa treated 12 patients with high doses of vitamin C given intravenously. None of the patients had received any kind of prior treatment for their condition. Over a five-minute period, all the patients were intravenously administered three grams of vitamin C.
On average, after about 20 minutes, most of the patients saw their blood pressure plunge at least seven percent. There was a specific drop in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number on a reading) of 9 percent. However, no significant drop in systolic blood pressure was observed, the study found.
The authors believe that the vitamin works by calming an overactive central nervous system. However, they also warned that more study is needed to confirm the results.
The Italian team was expected to report its findings Friday in Atlanta at the American Heart Association’s Conference of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research. The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The mechanism likely involves reducing abnormal oxidative stress that impairs blood flow. Another study in Journal Applied Physiology found that intravenous vitamin C improved blood flow in patients who had poor circulation in the legs, by 37%. The journal Hypertension in 2005 found that post-menopausal females receiving intravenous vitamin C had a increase in the ability of large arteries to relax, or had increased compliance. Interestingly these two studies did not find a decrease in the blood pressure, even though the latter study used similar doses of vitamin C. The reason may lie because in the Hypertension journal, they infused the dosage over 20 minutes, wherease the Italian researchers took 5 minutes to give the infusion, thus achieving much higher blood levels, and better saturation of the tissues.
Myer’s injection given as a push seems to be a good way to treat stress and associated blood pressure problems. A drip can be used as well, but there should be accordingly more vitamin C in the longer infusions to get similar, (and I think better) results.
Hi Dr. Chan,
Great website. In what form do you take your vitamin C? I just started getting Isotonix Vitamin C from my gym (Roland Semprie) and I really like taking it … it is supposed to be absorbed more quickly, and I like the flavour. WHat is your opinion about this kind of product? Roland also has lots of other Isotonix (Vitamin B, antioxidants, etc) — should I invest in some more, do you think?
L.
I like most forms of vitamin C, as long as it is well tolerated by your gastrointestinal system. Some people do well on regular vitamin C, others on esterified vitamin C, and most on some form of buffered vitamin C.