Searching for the truth about supplements can be tough. There are many different ways to gather and interpret data. When this is not done with proper forethought and consideration of a broad set of information, wrong conclusions are formed. That is what has happened in a recent incident concerning calcium. Failure to consider certain studies and criteria led to some scientists saying calcium supplements boost heart attack risk. Yes, calcium supplements are useful to our bodies when it gets into our bones and is coupled with vitamin D and other nutrients needed for bone formation. Calcium alone that does not get into the bone only into the bloodstream causes more problems than it helps, this is why just taking a Tums for your daily calcium intake is not good for you. Here is a detailed overview.

Many of you have been asking me about recent headlines saying that calcium supplements may boost heart attack risk. You’re asking me “What’s up with that?” “I thought calcium supplements were good for me.”

Let’s forget the hype and start by looking at the study itself.

The actual study was published online in the British Medical Journal on July 29, 2010 (M.J. Bolland et al, BMJ, 341: c3691). It was a meta-analysis, which combines the results of multiple clinical studies, and is generally considered to be a very strong way of analyzing the data from published clinical studies.

However, the validity of a meta-analysis is limited by the studies that it excludes. You can come to a very misleading conclusion if you exclude too many perfectly valid studies. In this case the authors excluded all studies using calcium supplements containing vitamin D because, as the authors stated in their paper, “vitamin D supplementation has been associated with decreased mortality.”

I think you can see where the authors were trying to go with this study! And with this exclusion criterion, their meta-analysis only included 15 out of 11,363 clinical trials of calcium supplementation.

And, it wasn’t only vitamin D that was excluded. A brief review of available supplements shows that when you exclude vitamin D you also exclude magnesium, vitamin K and all of the other nutrients needed for bone formation. What you are left with is just calcium alone – calcium carbonate, calcium citrate, calcium phosphate, “chelated” calcium or some combination of the four.

“What’s wrong with that?” you might ask. It brings me to another one of my pet peeves. Most companies evaluate calcium supplements by how much calcium gets into the bloodstream – not how much of that calcium gets into the bone.

Those of you who have been around for a while may remember a time when doctors were saying “Forget about those expensive calcium supplements. Just take Tums.” After all, Tums (pure calcium carbonate) are cheap and easily absorbed (a lot of the calcium gets into the bloodstream). What’s not to like? The short answer is plenty!

To help you understand why, let me start by reminding you of a study that Shaklee commissioned a number of years ago. They asked Dr. Albanese of the University of Albany to compare the effect of 800 mg of calcium from calcium carbonate and 600 mg of calcium from Shaklee’s Vita-Lea (Shaklee’s multivitamin supplement containing vitamin D, magnesium, vitamin K, boron and all of the trace minerals required for bone formation in addition to the calcium) on bone density in post-menopausal women.

His study showed that the 600 mg of calcium from Shaklee’s Vita-Lea was twice as effective as the 800 mg of calcium from calcium carbonate at preserving bone density – and that study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Society (You can check Shaklee’s published list of clinical studies for the exact reference)

We know that when you take a supplement containing calcium alone (something like a calcium carbonate supplement, for example) a lot of calcium is getting into the bloodstream. That brings us to the really important question: If that calcium isn’t getting into the bone, where is it going?

The answer is that some of it is excreted in your urine – which is OK as long as you are drinking enough water and getting enough magnesium and vitamin B6 to prevent kidney stone formation. But the rest of it is deposited in your soft tissue and your arteries.

The calcium that is deposited in your soft tissue can lead to inflammation and arthritis. The calcium that is deposited in your arteries causes hardening of the arteries, which can increase your blood pressure and increase your risk of heart attack and stroke.

So the bottom line is that getting a lot of calcium into your bloodstream is not necessarily a good thing unless that calcium is actually incorporated into your bones – and supplements containing calcium alone are only effective at getting calcium into the blood stream.

The bottom line is that the study was accurate in describing the safety of calcium-only supplements, but the headlines should have read “BAD calcium supplements may boost heart attack risk.”

My concern is there are literally thousands of clinical studies showing that calcium supplementation increases bone density and decreases the risk of osteoporosis. The inaccurate reporting of the conclusions of this one study may deter many people from taking the calcium supplements they need to prevent the crippling effects of osteoporosis.

To Your Health!
Dr. Stephen  Chaney

Visit This Page To View Top Quality Calcium Supplements

For More Information on Health Click on These Links:

Best Calcium Supplements

Why Do We Need Vitamin D – Facts About Vitamin D

Strengthen Bones And Heart with Osteomatrix

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Healthy Rx for a Healthier Life – Foundations For Health

Dietary Supplement Safety, What Supplements Are Safe?

Best Multivitamin – Every Vitamin and Minerals Your Body Needs

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