By David Liu, PHD

Sunday July 22, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Eating calcium rich foods may help reduce risk of myocardial infarction or heart attack while taking calcium supplements may increase the risk, according to a new study published in the June 2012 issue of Heart.

The study led by K. Li of German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg, Germany and colleagues showed that high intake of total calcium was associated with 31 percent reduced risk for myocardial infarction, compared to the low intake.

It has been speculated that high calcium intake may prevent cardiovascular disease or events. The current study was intended to examine the association between calcium intake and risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and myocardial infarction.

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from 23,980 Heidelberg cohort participants aged 35-64 years who were free of cardiovascular disease at the time of enrollment in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study.  During the 11-year follow-up, 354 myocardial infarction cases and 260 stroke cases and 267 cases of cardiovascular disease were identified.

In addition to the association between total calcium and risk of myocardial infarction, the researchers also found calcium intake was not correlated with the risk of stroke and death from cardiovascular disease.

However, users of calcium supplements were found 86 percent more likely than non-users to suffer myocardial infarction.

Could calcium supplements users take the supplements because they knew they had  some heart condition or family history in the first place? In other words, they might be at high risk even without taking calcium supplements.  That is, the correlation between calcium supplements and elevated risk of myocardial infarction may not suggest that calcium supplements are harmful even though the possibility cannot be excluded either.

Heart attack or myocardial infarction is a major killer in the United States.