2012.08.03 09:42
Supplements may raise heart attack risk, but calcium from food doesn't by Michael Haederle | from: AARP Bulletin | July 11, 2012 Here's some bad news for the millions of older women who regularly take calcium supplements in hopes of warding off osteoporosis: There is growing evidence that the pills significantly raise the risk of having a heart attack. The good news is that getting your calcium the old-fashioned way — from food — actually seems to protect against heart disease, while providing bone-strengthening benefits. Get your calcium from food rather than supplements to reduce your risk of getting a heart attack. Those paradoxical findings come from a newly published study of nearly 24,000 German men and women whose dietary preferences were followed for 11 years. The study found that daily use of supplements containing calcium increased heart attack risk by 86 percent. But supplement use did not affect the risk of stroke or death from cardiovascular disease, according to Sabine Rohrmann, a nutritionist and epidemiologist at the University of Zurich and coauthor of the study published in the journal Heart. Meanwhile, people who consumed 820 milligrams of calcium a day from food — more than half of which typically came from dairy — had a 30 percent lower risk of heart attack than those who got the least amount of calcium, Rohrmann says. The 820-milligram amount seemed to be a sweet spot: Those who took in even more calcium from food (about 1,130 milligrams daily) saw no further reduction in heart attack risk, she adds. The new findings echo other recent research highlighting the potential heart risk from calcium supplements, says Ian Reid, M.D., a professor at the University of Auckland medical school in New Zealand who has coauthored several studies on the subject. He believes that calcium taken in highly concentrated form causes a spike in blood levels that damages the arteries. Calcium in food is absorbed more slowly, however, leaving blood levels unchanged. The latest study focused on residents in the German city of Heidelberg who were between the ages of 35 and 64 when they were recruited starting in 1994 for the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. They regularly filled out questionnaires about the foods they ate and the supplements they took. The researchers also examined combination supplements, such as calcium and vitamin D, Rohrmann says, but concluded that calcium — whether alone or in combo with vitamin D — was linked to heart attack risk. Rohrmann does add a caveat: The scientists don't know exactly how much calcium participants got from supplements because they weren't asked what size dose they were taking. "We guessed that the intake is about a thousand milligrams per day," she says. It's unclear whether there might be a safe lower calcium supplement dose. But if a doctor prescribes calcium supplements, she recommends dissolving the pills in a bottle of water or juice and sipping from it throughout the day. That way, she says, "Your actual dose per intake is getting smaller." |
2012.08.03 09:55
2012.08.03 10:04
Calcium
"We want people to get the amount of calcium recommended for them but not necessarily to exceed it," says Nieves. Too much calcium, she says, may contribute to ailments such as kidney stones, prostate cancer and heart disease. For women over age 50, that's about 1,200 milligrams a day. Men need 1,000 milligrams a day up to age 70, and 1,200 milligrams a day from age 71 on. Good sources include:
Nieves counsels consumers to estimate their daily calcium intake from foods generally, and then take only enough calcium supplements to hit their recommended dietary allowance (RDA).
For example, Nieves says, "If you start every day with calcium-fortified orange juice and have yogurt for lunch, you could already be getting 800 milligrams of calcium and you can simply add another serving of a high calcium food to get your required amounts. (The National Osteoporosis Foundation has a worksheet that can be used to calculate the calcium in a consumer's daily diet, and the organization Osteoporosis Canada has a "calculate my calcium" tool online.)
Vitamin D
This vitamin helps the body absorb calcium, so getting enough of it every day is vital, Nieves says. While it is found in fatty fish such as salmon, tuna and halibut, most people will need to supplement their diet to get their RDA — 600 international units (IU) a day up to age 70, 800IU a day for those 71 and older. By reading food labels, consumers can choose foods that have been fortified with Vitamin D, and then can take a supplement to round out their RDA. Going a little over the requirement isn't a problem, she says, as a person would have to consume about four times the RDA of Vitamin D to do yourself any harm.
2012.08.03 10:49
NDB Ref. # | Food | |||
mgs. | Common measure | |||
- | . | - | - | - |
Milk, canned, condensed, sweetened | 869 | 1 cup | ||
Cheese sauce, prepared from recipe | 756 | 1 cup | ||
Milk, canned, evaporated, nonfat | 742 | 1 cup | ||
Cheese, ricotta, part skim milk | 669 | 1 cup | ||
Milk, canned, evaporated, without added vitamin A | 658 | 1 cup | ||
Cheese, ricotta, whole milk | 509 | 1 cup | ||
Milk shakes, thick vanilla | 457 | 11 fl oz. | ||
Yogurt, plain, skim milk, 13 grams protein per 8 ounce | 452 | 8 oz. | ||
Yogurt, plain, low fat, 12 grams protein per 8 ounce | 415 | 8 oz. | ||
Milk shakes, thick chocolate | 396 | 10.6 fl oz. | ||
Malted milk-flavor mix, chocolate, added nutrients, powder, prepared with milk | 384 | 1 cup | ||
Malted milk-flavor mix, natural, added nutrients, powder, prepared with milk | 371 | 1 cup | ||
Yogurt, fruit, low fat, 10 grams protein per 8 ounce | 345 | 8 oz. | ||
Eggnog | 330 | 1 cup | ||
Milk, nonfat, fluid, with added vitamin A (fat free or skim) | 301 | 1 cup | ||
Chocolate-flavor beverage mix, powder, prepared with milk | 301 | 1 cup | ||
Milk, lowfat, fluid, 1% milkfat, with added vitamin A | 300 | 1 cup | ||
Milk, reduced fat, fluid, 2% milkfat, with added vitamin A | 1 cup | |||
Sauce, homemade, white, medium | 1 cup | |||
Milk, fluid, 3.25% milkfat | 1 cup | |||
Milk, chocolate, fluid, commercial, lowfat | 1 cup | |||
Milk, chocolate, fluid, commercial, reduced fat | 1 cup | |||
Milk, buttermilk, fluid, cultured, lowfat | 1 cup | |||
Milk, dry, nonfat, instant, with added vitamin A | 1/3 cup | |||
Milk, chocolate, fluid, commercial, | 1 cup | |||
Yogurt, plain, whole milk, 8 grams protein per 8 ounce | 8 oz. | |||
Cheese, swiss | 1 oz. | |||
Cheese, pasteurized process, swiss, with di sodium phosphate | 1 oz. | |||
Cheese, provolone | 1 oz. | |||
Cheese, mozzarella, part skim milk, low moisture | 1 oz. | |||
Cheese, cheddar | 1 oz. | |||
Cheese, muenster | 1 oz. | |||
- | . |
|
|
|
Cornmeal, self-rising, degermed, enriched, yellow | 483 | 1 cup | ||
Wheat flour, white, all-purpose, self-rising, enriched | 423 | 1 cup | ||
Bread, indian (Navajo) fry | 373 | 10-1/2" bread | ||
Cereals ready-to-eat, GENERAL MILLS, BASIC 4 | 310 | 1 cup | ||
Cereals ready-to-eat, GENERAL MILLS, TOTAL | 3/4 cup | |||
Cereals ready-to-eat, GENERAL MILLS, TOTAL Raisin Bran | 1 cup | |||
Biscuits, plain or buttermilk, prepared from recipe | 1 4" biscuit | |||
Cereals ready-to-eat, GENERAL MILLS, TOTAL Corn Flakes | 1-1/3 cup | |||
Bread, indian (navajo) fry | 5" bread | |||
- | . |
|
|
|
Collards, frozen, chopped, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt | 357 | 1 cup | ||
Rhubarb, frozen, cooked, with sugar | 348 | 1 cup | ||
Potatoes, au gratin, home-prepared from recipe using butter | 1 cup | |||
Spinach, frozen, chopped or leaf, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt | 1 cup | |||
Spinach, canned, drained solids | 1 cup | |||
Soybeans, green, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt | 1 cup | |||
Turnip greens, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt | 1 cup | |||
Spinach, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt | 1 cup | |||
Spinach souffle, home-prepared | 1 cup | |||
Collards, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt | 1 cup | |||
Cowpeas (Blackeyes), immature seeds, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt | 1 cup | |||
Potatoes, au gratin, dry mix, prepared with water, whole milk and butter | 1 cup | |||
- | . |
|
|
|
Shake, fast food, vanilla | 406 | 16 fl oz. | ||
Shake, fast food, chocolate | 376 | 16 fl oz. | ||
Fast foods, taco, beef | 339 | 1 large | ||
Leavening agents, baking powder, double-acting, straight phosphate | 339 | 1 tsp | ||
Sweets, candies, confectioner's coating, white | 338 | 1 cup | ||
Fast foods, enchilada, with cheese | 324 | 1 enchilada | ||
Fast foods, nachos, with cheese | 6-8 nachos | |||
Fast foods, cheeseburger, regular, double patty, plain 1 | 1 sandwich | |||
Fast foods, cheeseburger, regular, double patty and bun, plain | 1 sandwich | |||
Fast foods, taco, beef | 1 small | |||
Tostada with guacamole | 1 tostada | |||
Fast foods, sundae, hot fudge | 1 sundae | |||
Fast foods, cheeseburger, large, single patty, with condiments and vegetables | 1 sandwich | |||
- | . |
|
|
|
Finfish, sardine, Atlantic, canned in oil, drained solids with bone | 325 | 3 oz. | ||
- | . |
|
|
|
Leavening agents, baking powder, double-acting, sodium aluminum sulfate | 1 tsp. | |||
Leavening agents, baking powder, low-sodium | 1 tsp. | |||
| This is a list of "basic foods". Source: USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 16 | |||
50 | 240 - 450 | 45 | 45 | 70 |
2012.08.03 11:55
Ian Reid(see the text above) says the case for preventing osteoporosis with calcium supplements is overblown.
It only decreases fracture risk by about 10 percent.
He counsels his own patients to boost their calcium intake from dietary sources.
"There are a number of food sources that are acceptable to the majority of people," he says.
In addition to dairy products, foods like broccoli, spinach, nuts and tofu are rich in calcium.
"A decade ago the enthusiasts were saying people should have 1,500 milligrams of calcium a day,"
Reid says. A "more sensible target" is probably 600 to 800 milligrams per day, he says.
"The majority of elderly people can probably achieve that."
However, it has been in medical journals as well.
The news is certainly disturbing one but important one for the aging women and some men
who have been taking calcium supplements usually with vitamin D, typically 500 to 600mg with
vitamin D twice a day. And this practice does not appear to be a good idea.
Now it is saying that this practice is dangerous.