For years, calcium intake has been portrayed as one of the best things you could do to prevent osteoporosis and related bone fractures; small study results supported this view. But when researchers started to crunch the data from large, prospective studies that followed people for many years, the benefits weren’t so clear-cut, reports the Harvard Health Letter. This ambiguity led to trials to test what effect calcium might have on fracture rates. Two studies showed that calcium didn’t prevent fractures—even when taken in combination with vitamin D. Another study showed that postmenopausal women who took a calcium-vitamin D combination were no less likely to break their hip than women who took a placebo pill. And other researchers reported the results from a meta-analysis of studies on calcium that found no connection be-tween high calcium intake and lower hip fracture risk. Some of these studies on supplements may not have shown a benefit because the study participants were al-ready getting more than 1,000 mg of calcium daily through diet. According to current recommendations, Americans over 50 are supposed to get 1,200 mg of calcium daily, but 600 mg is probably enough for most people to keep their fracture risk low. Since extra calcium might be protective against colon cancer, a daily intake of 600 to 1,000 mg is a reasonable goal.
(Source: Harvard Health Letter, March 2008)
