J Natl Med Assoc
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The effects of calcium supplementation on ambulatory blood pressure in African-American adolescents.
This longitudinal trial investigated the effects of calcium supplementation on the mean 24-hour blood pressure in African-American adolescents. Subjects were self-identified African-American adolescents from a high school in a suburb of Los Angeles, California. The subjects were randomly placed in a placebo or treatment group (placebo versus 1.5 g of calcium/day x 4 weeks). ⋯ Relative to the placebo group, the net change in ABP was -1.7 mm Hg for systolic blood pressure and -0.5 mm Hg for the diastolic blood pressure. There was no statistically significant effect of calcium supplementation on the 24-hour mean ABP. The net effect of supplementation on ABP during waking and sleeping hours also was not significant.