SUBJ: Special Edition: Calcium as a supplement
SUBtitle: Two views on risk benefit of calcium as a supplement
Thanks to new subscribers whose payments encourage me to offer extra comments.
SHORT NOTES: Last newsletter cited an article stating the risks of calcium supplements. A research professor who I deeply respect responded that based on the analysis in that article, none of the risks were statistically significant, and therefor did not show a risk from taking calcium supplements. I responded to his remark. I highlight particular articles and comment on them when they are consistent with other evidence supporting the primary claim. When my own risk-benefit analysis matches that of the article cited, I share it so that healthy people can discuss the claim with their health care professional.
LONG NOTES:
1)This article last Saturday prompted a discussion: CDN 3/23 – Hazards of calcium supplements on CVD cannot be excluded. We conducted a meta-analysis of all placebo-controlled randomized trials assessing the effects of calcium supplements alone or with vitamin D on CHD, stroke, and all-cause mortality. Calcium was not significantly associated with any excess risk. [Roc remarks: In 6 placebo-controlled clinical trials, when taking calcium supplements, relative risk of Myocardial Infarction was 15% higher, of heart disease 24% higher, or stoke, 15% higher. That seems significant to me.]
2)Respected research professor comment: In case you didn’t notice it, in the calcium meta-analysis you mentioned, all of the confidence intervals bracketed (and thus included) RR=1.00, so none of the comparisons yielded significant differences from placebo (with significance set at p<0.05). Skimming through the PDF of the article, all the p-values I saw w ere well above 0.05. If there are real-life differences such that Ca supplements have negative effects, the sample sizes were not large enough to reveal them in those studies. While I’m writing this e-mail, I’ll mention a book I liked by Paul Offit. The book is Do You Believe in Magic and is about supplements. Offit sits on the FDA vaccine advisory committee. I was particularly impressed by his comment in an interview a few months before the release of the Covid vaccines. When asked whether he would take the vaccine, he replied that he didn’t know yet because the studies hadn’t been completed, but that he would take the vaccine if it was shown to be safe and effective. I liked that answer and I used that same wording when an anti-vaccine friend asked me in November 2020 whether I would take the vaccine.
As I recall, Offit discusses calcium supplements in that book.
Studies on calcium and prostate cancer have been mixed, with some showing a bad effects. For example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29936714/
This one is interesting in regards to small effects of Ca and substantial effects of phosphorus intakes on prostate cancer:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25527761/
3)Roc responds: Dear Research Professor, Thanks for your thoughtful comment. Many of my remarks are based on articles, as in the calcium reference, but lack a longer comment justifying those remarks based on my own 40+ year history of studying nutrition. First, there is a history of articles pointing out that most Americans get far too much calcium in their diets. The supplemental calcium contributes to hardening of the throat and arteries. So in the risk benefit, I see a risk.
There are two key factors for bone strength. First is vitamin D. As told at the LPI conferences, everyone ought to be taking a vitamin D supplement of at least 2,000 IU daily, and most experts are taking 5,000, as I do.
The second factor for strong bones is weight bearing exercise. In India, there was almost no calcium in the diet, but because of weight bearing exercise, few people had osteoporosis. Just as with high blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. the pharmaceutical, (and oil and tobacco) industries work hard to promote capitalism rather than science-based human health.
In my risk-benefit analysis, calcium has probable risks and no demonstrated benefit, for those wise enough to take vitamin D and get exercise regularly.
DISCLAIMER: All of the remarks in my newsletter are intended for healthy people to discuss with their medical professional.
