Calcium Intake Reduces Mortality Risk in Women

Women can lower their risk of death by adding calcium to their diet, researchers recently reported online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

A total of 9033 men and women from the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study were studied over a 10-year period, during which 1160 participants died. The incidence of death was significantly reduced for women who took a daily dose of up to 1000 mg of calcium, but no definitive associations were found among men. The same benefits were seen whether the calcium came from food or supplements, the authors noted.

“We found that daily use of calcium supplements in women was associated with a lower risk of death, irrespective of cause,” said the study’s lead author, David Goltzman, MD, director of the Calcium Research Laboratory at McGill University. The researchers also determined that vitamin D intake had no effect on mortality risk.