Keep Taking That Calcium

SEATTLE - The story made big news a few months ago: A major federal health study concluded that calcium did not lower a woman's risk of hip fractures. News articles suggested it was time to throw away the calcium pills.

Health experts now say that's clearly the wrong message. Look at all the data, they say, and the Women's Health Initiative clearly shows that women who faithfully took their calcium supplements were much less likely to have a bone fracture. In fact, women who took calcium pills consistently had a 29 percent lower risk of breaking their hip than those who took a placebo.

A recent study done in Australia came to the same conclusion -- that calcium pills will help your bones if they are taken regularly.

In its June Issue, the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter calls the WHI study flawed. The editors say it should not keep women from taking calcium supplements.

“We have not changed our advice about calcium and Vitamin D,” they say. Women over 50 years old are supposed to get 1,200 – 1,500 milligrams of calcium a day, from food or supplements, plus 400 - 800 International Units of Vitamin D.

The Wellness Letter recommends a calcium supplement for anyone who does not get enough calcium in their diet. If you are over 50 and don’t drink much milk, “you almost certainly need to take a vitamin D supplement,” they say.

The Wellness Letter calls it “wishful thinking” to assume that once you get older and start to lose bone mass, that increasing calcium and vitamin D intake “by itself will have a big effect.”

And yet, they editors say, the bulk of the research done “indicates that these supplements probably play a small yet beneficial role for people over 50.” And as they point out, at that age “every little bit helps when it comes to bone health.”

For More Information:

Calcium & Common Sense

Calcium helps prevent bone breaks, study shows