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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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Can Calcium Supplement Really Harm the Heart? Calcium forms an important part of our daily diet. It is recommended that about 1000 mg of calcium should be consumed daily to prevent osteoporosis, a disease that expedites the process of the natural loss of calcium in the bones. Osteoporosis will make a person’s bones weak and fragile. Loss of height, curved spines and bone fractures are some of the complications that could be developed as a result of osteoporosis. The best way to get calcium into one’s body is through foods. Good sources of dietary calcium include dairy products, soya and fish. Unfortunately, most of the dairy products have high saturated fat and cholesterol that could put people at higher risk of heart disease. Meanwhile, most working people who are eating out frequently would not get enough calcium just from food alone. Therefore, calcium supplement seems to be a good alternative. However, a study published in the British Medical Journal on July 30, 2010 found that ordinary calcium supplements taken by the elderly to strengthen bones might raise the risk of heart attack. Researchers from the University of Auckland in New Zealand together with an international team of scientists reviewed 11 separate clinical trials involving 12,000 patients aged over 40 taking calcium supplements of 500 mg or more. They found that calcium supplements were linked to about 30 percent increase in heart attack risk, and risk of stroke and mortality also increased to a lesser extent. Such association was consistent across trials and was independent of age, sex, and type of supplement.
While the researchers admitted that the added risk of heart attack might be modest for any individual, they also warned that the widespread use of calcium supplements could turn into a significantly larger disease burden across an entire population. As previous studies have found that cardiovascular events were not increased because of raising calcium intake through diet changes, the potential heart attack risk should be restricted to calcium supplements. They also explained that higher blood calcium might lead to formation of plaques in blood vessels, which could trigger heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular events. Higher level of calcium can happen over the next 4 to 6 hours after a person takes calcium supplement and it could go up to the top of the normal range. On the other hand, the blood calcium level hardly changes when calcium enters this person’s body through food he or she eats. Obviously, the findings would certainly scare away many people, and some might even consider stopping their calcium supplement intake. But before embarking any action, please read the views from other health professionals first. Some health experts raised doubts on the new findings. First of all, none of the trials analyzed were planned to examine heart disease risk, so the data collected was not in a standardized form. Also, people should interpret with caution on the differences arising from relatively small numbers. Last but not least, the study’s analysis was restricted to people who had supplement containing calcium only. But previous studies on supplement containing both calcium and Vitamin D had not shown any harmful effect on the heart. In addition, an American study conducted several years ago, which found calcium supplement did not increase the heart disease risk for 34,500 people over a period of 8 years. Most doctors agree that people who have a low bone density or perimenopausal (also known as menopause transition) women who require higher level of calcium still need calcium supplement if they have any restriction in their diet or cannot get sufficient calcium from their food. But these people should take calcium supplement combined with Vitamin-D. As such, people who were diagnosed with osteoporosis should continue taking their calcium and Vitamin-D supplement, along with any other osteoporosis treatment they have been prescribed.
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