BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- While many young women know that getting enough vitamin D is essential to bone health as they age, new research has found that a lack of vitamin D may also affect blood pressure and increase women's risk for hypertension.

Researchers at the University of Michigan tested for vitamin D levels and blood pressure in over 500 women between the ages of 24 and 44.

They found that, when assessed for hypertension 15 years later, those women who had vitamin D deficiencies when younger were three times as likely to develop hypertension than those who had normal levels of vitamin D.

Vitamin D is obtained by eating fatty fish and fortified dairy products, taking certain dietary supplements, or being out in the sun.

Considering other recent research finds that vitamin D deficiency may also negatively affect immune function and inflammation, these findings highlighted how important it is for women to get enough of this essential vitamin.