Thursday 27 July 2017

Calcium Supplements and Heart Disease: Good News

Do calcium supplements increase the risk of heart disease? Research findings over the previous couple of years have gone back and forth like the proverbial ping-pong chunkyes, no, yes, no more. Last October that a widely reported study in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA) once more suggested there’s a link between the supplements and heart disease. But in December 2016, new recommendations in the National Osteoporosis Foundation and the American Society for Preventive Cardiology basically said not to worry. No wonder a few of our subscribers have expressed their confusion.

The narrative goes back into 2010-11, when investigators in New Zealand published two analyses of earlier studies, which suggested that calcium supplements can boost the danger of heart attacks. Many experts in the field contested these analyses, along with also the Wellness Letter critiqued their approach (see Can Candles Pills Hurt Your Heart? ). Despite these limitations, however, we stated that the concerns called for additional research.

Ever since then, observational studies and clinical trials have yielded conflicting, although largely reassuring, results about the protection of calcium supplements. Some have even connected calcium (from food or supplements) into lower coronary threat.

For instance, in a large Canadian study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism in 2013, women who consumed to 1,000 milligrams of calcium a day had a 22 percent lower death rate over a 10-year interval than nonusers. There was not any substantial effect on mortality rates in males or with high doses of calcium. In contrast, a study by the American Cancer Society in 2016 discovered that supplemental calcium was associated with a lesser all-cause mortality rate in women, but high doses (at least 1,000 milligrams a day) have been linked to higher mortality rate in males.

An observational analysis of 75,000 female nurses in Osteoporosis International in 2014 also connected calcium supplements into a diminished risk of coronary attacks. Women who took 1,000 milligrams or more of calcium a day had a 29 percent reduced risk of heart attack over a 24-year interval than nonusers. Also in 2014, a meta-analysis in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research pooled information from 18 clinical trials also concluded that calcium supplements, with or without vitamin D, also don’t increase the risk of coronary artery disorder, notably heart attacks.

What the results are in coronary arteries?

One long-time concern was the calcium from foods and supplements may build up in coronary arteries (coronary artery calcification) also lead to atherosclerosis. In the past several years, however, several studies found no such connection between calcium intake and coronary calcification. A 2012 analysis from the long-running Framingham Offspring Study reasoned that people who have the most calcium in supplements or food as much as 3,000 milligrams each day, don’t have more visceral fat calcium. This was verified by means of an analysis from the Diabetes Heart Study in 2014, which found no connection between calcium intake (from diet or supplements) and coronary calcification. Actually, calcium supplements have been associated with reduced mortality rates in women (there wasn’t any substantial effect in guys).

The new JAHA analysis raised the matter again. Somewhat confusingly, it discovered that while people who consumed the most calcium (greater than 1,450 milligrams from food and supplements) had the lowest risk of coronary artery calcification, people who got their calcium largely from tablets were at elevated risk.

The new guidelines from both expert groups appear to settle the matter, at least for today. They had been based on a systematic analysis, which discovered that calcium from food or supplements–up to 2,500 milligrams a day, over twice the suggested intake (data on higher intakes are missing)–isn’t correlated with coronary artery disease in healthy individuals. And they said there’s “no recognized biological mechanism” linking salt intake to cardiovascular disease.

“Obtaining calcium from food sources is preferred [but ] supplemental calcium may be safely utilized to correct any shortfalls in ingestion,” the guidelines reasoned. “Discontinuation of supplemental calcium to safety reasons isn’t necessary and might be harmful to bone health when intake from meals is suboptimal.”

It is best to get calcium from your diet since foods naturally rich in calcium provide many nutrients essential for bones and basic wellness. Furthermore, high doses of calcium supplements increase the chance of this most common type of kidney stones in some people, whereas foods naturally rich in calcium (notably dairy products) protect against stones. If you can’t get the recommended 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day from diet , you might need a small amount of supplemental calcium to fill the gap. More isn’t always better.



source http://revivelifesupplements.com/calcium-supplements-and-heart-disease-good-news/

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