CALCIUM STUDY

READ THIS BEFORE YOU TOSS YOUR CALCIUM SUPPLEMENT....

Over the past week, both newspapers and TV news have reported the results of a New Zealand medical centre study recently published by the British Medical Journal. The study claims that calcium supplementation increases the likelihood of cardiovascular events, specifically myocardial infarction, stroke and sudden death. Rightly so, it has many men and women who are currently taking calcium supplements more than a little worried.

Before you start flushing all your calcium, let's step back and look objectively at what the study is really telling us.

First all all, there are a few key points to this argument that the media has failed to report on:

The authors of the study conclude by stating "... the present study does not unequivocally show adverse cardiovascular effect of calcium, but suggests that this matter needs to be considered carefully before supplementation can be broadly advocated."1 Any report stating that these findings prove anything conclusive is simply false.

The media also failed to report that most of the statistically significant findings were based on self reports of potential events. The adjudicated or verified data contained no or only borderline significance.

The study was conducted using elderly white women, mean age of 74 years old, meaning that the finding may very well have no bearing on younger populations or different races, something the authors themselves admit. There was also a fairly small cohort, in general. The study group was cut considerably due to compliance issues and did not consist of 1471 participants as the media is reported. "The present study has several limitations, principally its small size for a study with cardiovascular end points."2

The media also failed to report that most of this information was already known. The osteoporosis society of Canada sent out a release for health care practitioners in August of 2010. In summary, they concluded that postmenopausal women over the age of 70 years, in the presence of impaired renal function (the mean glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in the study group was indicative of minimal-moderate renal impairment) should not be supplementing with more than 1000 mg of calcium/day, if extra calcium is not required.

What this study has taught us, is that more is not always better.
As with most vitamins/minerals/plant based medicines, there is usually a plateau, over which we may even be doing our body harm. Certainly no one should be taking a supplement of any sort without proper cause and knowledge about what the supplement does, how much he/she should be taking based on need, who should not be taking it and what the side effects/toxicity effects may be. It is definitely time we were more proactive in our health and start asking more questions... just make sure you are asking both SIDES of any story. Research is at the heart of any efficacious treatment, but we all need to be cautious not to get too caught up in every new study that comes out – whether for or against a natural supplement or drug. One study rarely proves or disproves the efficacy of any treatment. We need to evaluate these findings objectively, and determine whether these conclusions are both sound and applicable to us.

For individuals who eat a diet high in dairy, or get a large amount of calcium through other food sources, supplementation of 1000 mg or more, may not be necessary. That being said, individuals diagnosed with Osteoporosis and Osteopenia who have medical reasoning/backing for supplementing with 1000 mg or more, need to understand that this study was not meant to asses the health/risk benefit for the Osteoporotic/Osteopenic population and therefore the findings are not applicable to them and their needs.

The study seemed to conclude that not only did calcium cause increased risk of cardiovascular events, but that calcium supplementation had little to no effect on bone health and bone mineral density. Their conclusion being that the health risks far outweigh the benefits of calcium supplementation. Again, the authors are only focusing on a small sample of data on the issue, furthermore, they need to take into account other vitamins and minerals that, in conjunction with calcium, can be extremely beneficial to bone health. Consider vitamin D status, for instance. If you are living in North America, there is a good chance that your vitamin D is low, meaning you calcium supplementation can only do so much, and concurrently supplementing with vitamin D and calcium has shown improvements or stabilization of BMD.

Does this article give us cause for pause and further study? Absolutely! But before you go tossing your calcium, consider the whole story and talk to you healthcare practitioner about your needs and how best to go about meeting them. Not everyone needs to supplement with calcium, but those that do, have no cause for fear!

To read the study for yourself, click here!

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