Calcium Supplements Linked to Heart Attack Risk

More research is “urgently needed,” according to a group of researchers who found that calcium supplements provide no benefit to post-menopausal women;they also contend that they increase the risk of myocardial infarction, or heart attack.

The team was led by Dr. Ian Reid of the University of Auckland (New Zealand); for the research, they conducted 11 randomized trials of over 12,000 women.

The results are startling.  In the British Medical Journal, the researchers state that women who took calcium supplements were 31% more likely to have a heart attack.  The patients were divided equally between those who took calcium supplements and those who took a placebo.  143 of the women taking calcium had a heart attack, while 111 of the placebo group had one.

The researchers also state that none of the women were given vitamin D with the supplement; additionally, the findings do not apply to the ingestion of calcium through calcium rich foods, which is still considered beneficial to the osteoporosis fight.

As for Vitamin D, the researchers state in an editorial accompanying the study, “A combination of calcium and vitamin D is commonly used to treat osteoporosis. Vitamin D supplements might reduce the risk of falls, might have important clinical effects on cardiovascular function, do not increase mortality, and may mitigate the trend to excess mortality seen with calcium supplements alone.”

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, the following five steps can help prevent the disease:

*Eat right, consuming healthy foods rich in calcium and Vitamin D
*Stay active by engaging in weight bearing exercises
*Avoid smoking and excessive alcohol consumption
*Talk to your health care provider about bone health
*When appropriate, consider bone density testing

Osteoporosis, which shows no painful symptoms until a bone fractures, affects 4 times more women than men.