Nutritional Deficiencies as a Cause of Elevated Blood Pressure in Rats (with Especial Reference to the Vitamin B2 Complex)

The effects of dietary deficiencies on the blood pressure of rats were studied, with especial reference to vitamin B deficiencies. A deficiency of the entire vitamin B complex was followed by a slight fall in blood pressure. A deficiency of only thse heat-stable fractions was followed by a significant and persistent rise in pressure, which could be reversed by restoring these factors to the diet. Partial deficiencies were followed by a higher rise of blood pressure than were complete deficiencies, perhaps because of the debilitating effects of the latter. Even an excessive intake of the heat-stable fractions of the vitamin B complex did not prevent entirely a rise of pressure if the diet was otherwise deficient. Under the latter conditions, the rise in pressure was slower and less marked than in those animals with a deficiency of the vitamin B(2) complex only. It therefore appears that, while a deficiency of the vitamin B(2) complex plays a dominant rôle in causing a rise of blood pressure in rats, other dietary factors as yet undefined are also involved. From analogy with other deficiency states, it is possible that thsese undefined nutritional factors cause their effects by interfering with absorption and utilization of the vitamin B(2) complex.