Calcium Supplements Can Have a Downside . . .
Tue, January 29, 2008 at 03:01AM It seems that healthy postmenopausal women who take a calcium citrate supplement may have an increased risk of heart attack (myocardial infarct, or MI). This news comes from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, reporting in the British Medical Journal online.
Over 1450 postmenopausal women with an average age of 74 were allocated to take 1 gram daily of calcium citrate or a placebo. After 5 years’ follow-up, there were 45 heart attacks in the calcium-taking women vs. 19 in the placebo group. And the composite number of heart attack, stroke, and sudden death was higher in the calcium group – 101 events with calcium, and 54 events with placebo.
The authors of the study concluded that calcium supplementation in healthy postmenopausal women is linked to an increase in cardiovascular events, which may be more detrimental than the known beneficial effects of calcium on bone mineral density. For example, the number of women needed to treat for 5 years to cause one MI was 44, to cause one stroke was 56, and to cause one cardiovascular event was 29. In comparison, the number needed to treat to prevent one fracture was 50.
What’s an elderly woman to do? Maybe, if there’s no evidence of lowered bone mineral density, high doses of calcium should be avoided; a good balanced diet (and sunlight for vitamin D) should be quite adequate to provide some protection against fractures. Four servings of dairy product a day should do the trick.
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