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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Calcium Supplements May Increase MI Risk in Healthy Older Women

Auckland, New Zealand, Jan 16 -- Healthy older women taking high-dose calcium supplements had a significantly increased risk of myocardial infarction, investigators here found.
Action Points --->
Explain that the findings of MI risk for older women taking high doses of calcium (one gram a day) are not definitive and should be balanced against the benefits for bone health.
MI was twice as common in women taking one gram of elemental calcium daily than in those taking a placebo, Ian R. Reid, M.D., of the University of Auckland, and colleagues reported online in BMJ.
However, the researchers cautioned, this potentially detrimental effect should be balanced against the likely benefits of calcium on bone.
These findings do not permit definitive conclusions but do flag cardiac health as an area of concern in relation to calcium use, the investigators wrote.
Evidence has suggested that high calcium intake might protect against vascular disease by increasing the ratio of HDL to LDL cholesterol. However, the researchers said, evidence from controlled trials supporting this theory is lacking.

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