Recent Study On Calcium Supplement Safety

A recent study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) showed that healthy menopausal women, average age 74, who took calcium supplements (calcium citrate) daily were more likely to have heart attack than menopausal women who didn’t take calcium.

The study findings suggest, the authors said, that taking calcium supplements maybe damaging to the heart because it may raise blood calcium levels that may lead to calcium deposits in the arteries and may block blood flow.

Dr. Erica C. Jones of the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York says : “The findings suggest that the very elderly may have an increase in heart attack when taking this formulation of calcium. It is not clear if this is true for younger postmenopausal women, or if the women take different forms of calcium.” However, if you have no major risk factors for heart disease and have a normal bone density, the study findings should not change your decision to take calcium supplements. He added, “On the other hand, if you have a normal bone density and a significant cardiovascular risk, you should discuss with your doctor whether taking supplemental calcium is necessary.” Dr. Jones suggests taking calcium carbonate instead of calcium citrate.

In a previous and a much broader study on calcium supplements, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), in which 36,000 post-menopausal women participated, it showed no difference in cardiovascular events between calcium supplements users and non-users. The subjects in this study were aged 50 to 79, and they took calcium carbonate.