Monday Sept 8, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- H. Uemura at The University of Tokushima Graduate School in Kuramoto-cho, Tokushima,Japan and colleagues conducted a study and found vitamin D and dietary calcium are important for the prevention of arterial stiffness.

In the study, 535 men aged 35 to 69 years who participated in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan underwent bronchial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-pwv) measurements.  Ba-PWV is a measure of arterial stiffness and a marker of atherosclerotic vascular damage.

The study found dietary calcium intake was significantly inversely associated with ba-PWV after adjustment for probable co-variates.  The association was particularly striking among those who had higher intake of vitamin D, but not among those with low intake of vitamin D.

No association was observed between vitamin D intake and ba-PWV.

The study concluded "These results indicate that adequate dietary Ca and vitamin D intakes may be protective against the development of arterial stiffness in Japanese men."

Uemura H, Katsuura-Kamano S, Yamaguchi M, Nakamoto M, Hiyoshi M, Arisawa K.  Association between dietary calcium intake and arterial stiffness according to dietary vitamin D intake in men.  Br J Nutr. 2014 Sep 5:1-8.