April 20, 2011 |
Calcium supplements appear to slightly raise the risk of heart attack, a new analysis suggests. But the data, from postmenopausal women who took supplements over seven years, are far from conclusive. So don’t throw out the multivitamins just yet – or those calcium supplements that many women take for bone health. Not all doctors are convinced that this study, led by the University of Auckland, is the last word on calcium supplements. Or that it changes the debate at all. The results from previous studies of calcium and heart attack risk, including ones from the same research team, have been widely criticized.
February 12, 1997 |
Are calcium supplements safe? That's a tough call for consumers, considering that several prestigious health organizations and government agencies can't agree on the answer. But even the combatants in a new controversy about lead content in calcium supplements agree that Americans should continue taking the supplements, which help prevent the crippling bone disease osteoporosis. Adequate calcium intake is also crucial for pregnant women to assist in fetal development.
October 2, 2000 |
Many over-the-counter calcium supplements that millions take to keep bones strong contain small amounts of lead that could be a health risk if recommended doses are exceeded, research suggests. About 5% of the U.S. population takes the supplements, including a sizable number of menopausal women, who face an increased risk of osteoporosis as their bodies stop producing estrogen. About 10 million Americans suffer from the bone-thinning disease.
March 5, 1988 |
Calcium supplements, one of many health trends bursting onto the big-business scene, have become a popular item. With such a deluge from advertisers, it is important to separate sales pitches from sound medical advice. Don't get me wrong. I applaud efforts to inform women about preventing osteoporosis, a crippling ailment that runs up the national medical bill by billions of dollars every year. And calcium supplements do have their place.
February 5, 2013 |
There is oh, so much publicity about fish oil pills, calcium and vitamin D - let alone the many more unusual dietary supplements. Are Americans persuaded? About half of U.S. adults use dietary supplements, and less than a quarter of the people who take them do so at the advice of a healthcare professional, according to a survey of almost 12,000 people in 2007 to 2010 published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. Americans spent more than $30 billion on supplements in 2011.
March 1, 1989 |
Vitamin, calcium and fiber supplements that Americans consume by the millions of doses are useless and potentially harmful, said a report today by the National Research Council. A massive study called "Diet and Health: Implications for Reducing Chronic Disease Risk" recommended that higher-than-needed doses of vitamins be avoided and said that neither fiber nor calcium supplements have any value to health.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 14, 1999
Adding calcium to the diet can keep you from getting tumors in your large intestine. The effect is moderate but significant, Dr. J.A. Baron of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., writes in today's New England Journal of Medicine. The study looked at 832 people who underwent surgery for colorectal adenomas--benign tumors--at six hospitals around the country. About half got calcium supplements and half got placebos.
May 1, 2006 |
Older women who took calcium supplements twice a day reduced their risk of breaking a bone, researchers have found, but getting them to take the pills proved to be a problem. Nearly half the 1,460 healthy women older than 70 who participated in the study did not consistently take the twice-daily 600-milligram pills, which led the researchers to doubt whether supplements could be useful as preventive therapy.
January 28, 1997 |
A public-interest group said Monday that the country's largest maker of dietary calcium supplements, Carson-based Leiner Health Products Group, has agreed to reduce the amount of lead in the tablets by the start of February.
February 27, 2013 |
More than half of American women over the age of 60 take vitamin D and calcium supplements, but the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said this week that they're probably wasting their money. In a new recommendations from the federal government's expert panel on preventive medicine, the task force says that most postmenopausal women should not take vitamin D and calcium to reduce their risk of bone fractures. The dosages assessed were 400 international units (IUs) of vitamin D3 and 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day. The conclusions are based on an analysis of six randomized trials designed to study the health effects of vitamin D and calcium supplements.