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Vitamin D may not lower blood pressure in seniors with high blood pressure, a new study suggests.

A new study found that vitamin D supplementation did not improve blood pressure or markers of vascular health in older patients with isolated systolic hypertension, a common type of high blood pressure.

The study involved 159 patients with an average age of 77 years with isolated systolic hypertension.  Participants were randomly given either vitamin D or a placebo.  Participants received supplementation every three months for a year. Researchers measured difference in office blood pressure, 24-hour blood pressure, arterial stiffness, endothelial function, cholesterol level, insulin resistance and b-type natriuretic peptide level during the 12-month study period.

Researchers found no significant difference in average office blood pressure between the two groups. There were also no differences in any of the secondary outcomes (24-hour blood pressure, arterial stiffness, endothelial function, cholesterol level, glucose level, and walking distance), according to researchers.

"It is still possible, however, that vitamin D supplementation could have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health via non-blood pressure effects, and ongoing large randomized trials are due to report on this in the next few years," researchers wrote in the study.

The findings are published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.