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Calcium

Specific Recommendations:

• Calcium products at Amazon.com

News & Research:

• Why you need to go with a supplement with the right calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper ratio:
  • Magnesium--A Forgotten Mineral - Health & Nutrition Breakthroughs, 9/97 - "Excess calcium and phosphate also interfere with magnesium absorption. (Thus, taking calcium supplements without adding magnesium could result in magnesium deficiency.)"
  • Inhibitory effects of zinc on magnesium balance and magnesium absorption in man - J Am Coll Nutr. 1994 Oct;13(5):479-84 - "the overall effect of the high Zn intake of the three groups combined, regardless of the Ca intake, was a highly significant decrease of Mg absorption and of the Mg balance"
  • Zinc -- The Immune System's Missing Link? - Health & Nutrition Breakthroughs, 12/97 - "Supplementing with zinc is quite safe--its only significant side effect is lowered copper levels in the body tissues, since the two minerals compete for absorption. Considering zinc's safety, people should consider taking zinc supplements, especially as they age--being sure to include copper in the proper balance. Most practitioners who supplement their patients' diets with zinc also recommend taking copper at a ratio of 10 mg to 15 mg zinc for each milligram of copper."
  • Drugs That Deplete- Nutrients That Heal - Life Extension Magazine, 7/00 - "The irony here is that excess calcium supplementation may lead to magnesium deficiency (it also interferes with zinc and iron absorption)."
  • Calcium, Keep What You Take - Life Extension Magazine, 3/99 - "The final study was a two-year, placebo controlled trial on 225 postmenopausal women. One group received calcium supplements only, the second group zinc, manganese and copper, the third group received calcium plus zinc, manganese and copper, while the fourth group received a placebo. After two years, the only group who experienced an improvement in bone mineral density was the group taking calcium plus zinc, manganese and copper" - [Abstract]
  • Magnesium: The Multi-Purpose Mineral - Think Muscle Newsletter - "If you take high amounts of calcium daily, you may have a magnesium deficiency. Most experts suggest that your calcium: magnesium ration should be 2:1. In other words, if you take 1500 mg of calcium daily through diet and supplementation, you should try to consume at least 750 mg of magnesium daily as well"
• Low Calcium, Potassium Key Risk Factors for Kidney Stones - Medscape, 8/1/22 - "A higher calcium diet is associated with a higher urinary pH, and citrate confers an alkali load which helps protect against the formation of calcium oxalate stones. Foods that are high in potassium also contain more fluid, citrate, and phytate, which, again, have been reported to be protective against kidney stones" - See potassium citrate at Amazon.com.
• Dietary calcium intake and change in bone mineral density in older adults: a systematic review of longitudinal cohort studies - Eur J Clin Nutr 2021 Jun 15 - "Most studies found no association between calcium intake and change in BMD in women (71%) or men (71%). Among women, five studies reported high rates (>30% of participants) of hormone treatment or osteoporosis therapy (HT/OT) use; 80% of these studies reported a positive association between calcium intake and change in BMD, compared with 10% of studies in which HT/OT use was low. No study in women in which the mean age was >60 years reported a positive association between calcium intake and change in BMD. We conclude that calcium intake across the ranges consumed in these studies (mean intake in all but one study >500 mg/day) is not an important determinant of bone loss, particularly among women >60 years. The positive findings in studies with high rates of HT/OT use are likely to arise from confounding as a result of co-administration of calcium supplements with these medications"
• High calcium levels in mitochondria linked to neuronal death in Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 5/13/20 - ""High calcium levels in the mitochondria cause oxidative stress, and the death of neurons via apoptosis," says Calvo-Rodriguez. "We propose that by blocking the neuronal mitochondrial calcium uniporter we can prevent cell death and impact disease progression." Their work suggests targeting calcium entry to the mitochondria could be a promising new therapeutic approach in Alzheimer's disease"
• Vitamin D Needs Calcium to Help Lower - Medscape, 12/23/19 - "Once regarded as a potent silver bullet for preventing fractures, vitamin D appears to need calcium to exert a preventive effect. Neither intermittent nor daily consumption of standard doses of vitamin D alone was associated with a reduced fracture risk, a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies in elderly individuals reports. Daily supplementation with both vitamin D and calcium, however, appeared more promising, correlating to a 16% reduced risk of hip fracture"
• Dietary Calcium Intake and Bone Loss Over 6 Years in Osteopenic Postmenopausal Women - Medscape, 9/20/19 - "The present demonstration of an absence of an effect of dietary calcium intake on bone loss in osteopenic postmenopausal women, together with other data reviewed above, suggests that calcium intakes in the range studied here are not a critical factor for maintenance of postmenopausal bone. This should be reflected in the advice provided to the public and in the advocacy undertaken by groups active in bone-health promotion. This finding is of immediate relevance to public health endeavors for osteoporosis prevention and to those counseling patients regarding fracture prevention"
• Calcium may play a role in the development of Parkinson's disease - Science Daily, 2/19/18 - "calcium can mediate the interaction between small membranous structures inside nerve endings, which are important for neuronal signalling in the brain, and alpha-synuclein, the protein associated with Parkinson's disease. Excess levels of either calcium or alpha-synuclein may be what starts the chain reaction that leads to the death of brain cells"
• Review: Calcium Supplements Won't Harm the Heart - WebMD, 10/24/16 - "The researchers analyzed 31 studies. Four of them were clinical trials, where older adults (mostly women) were randomly assigned to take calcium, with or without vitamin D ... None of those trials showed that supplement users had higher risks of heart disease, stroke or death than participants given placebo pills ... The new guidelines do specify that people should keep their overall calcium intake -- from food and supplements -- below the "tolerable upper level." That's set at 2,000 to 2,500 mg per day"
• Calcium supplements might hurt your heart, study finds - Today.com, 10/11/16 - "People who took calcium pills were about 22 percent more likely to develop dangerous buildups called plaque in their arteries than people who did not take them ... But people who also ate a lot of calcium in food seemed to be protected ... It could be that supplements contain calcium salts, or it could be from taking a large dose all at once that the body is unable to process"
• Calcium Supplements May Up Women's Dementia Risk - WebMD, 8/17/16 - "The study can't prove cause-and-effect. However, dementia risk was seven times higher in female stroke survivors who took calcium supplements, compared to women with a history of stroke who didn't use the supplements ... The risk of dementia also was three times higher in women with white matter brain lesions who took calcium supplements, compared to women with white matter lesions who didn't take the supplements ... the findings apply only to calcium supplements. Calcium from food appears to affect the brain differently than calcium from supplements, Kern explained, and appears to be safe or even protective"
• Latest Data: Calcium Supplements Not Associated With CVD - Medscape, 4/22/16 - "There were no associations between use of calcium supplements and risk of incident hospital admission with ischemic heart disease, any cardiovascular event, or death following either admission category" - Note:  It's like Actos and bladder cancer, the studies have been going back and forth for years.
• Calcium supplements may increase the risk of kidney stone recurrence - Science Daily, 10/14/15 - "Patients who took calcium supplements had lower total calcium and oxalate (which are components of kidney stones) in their urine while blood levels were unaffected. However, these patients also had a faster rate of kidney stone growth suggesting that the mechanism of calcium supplementation on stone formation may not be straightforward. Vitamin D supplementation also decreased urinary calcium excretion as well as stone growth, suggesting that it may help prevent the risk of stone formation"
• Calcium From Supplements or Dairy Doesn't Strengthen Bones, Study Finds - NBC News, 9/29/15 - "taking calcium supplements is not just a waste of time, but it could be harmful. The extra calcium doesn't go to strengthen bones but instead can build up in the arteries, causing heart disease, or in the kidneys, causing kidney stones"
• New dietary supplement beats calcium, vitamin D for bone strength - Science Daily, 11/5/14 - "KoACT is a calcium-collagen chelate, a compound containing calcium and collagen that are bound together ... A group of 39 women were randomly divided into two groups, with the control group taking a capsule that was a mix of calcium and vitamin D. The other group took the calcium-collagen chelate ... The women taking the calcium-collagen chelate saw substantially less bone loss than the control group over a year's time. The group taking the calcium-collagen chelate, saw a loss of 1.23 percent in bone mineral density, while the control group saw a 3.75 percent loss" - See KoACT at Amazon.com.
• Calcium, Vitamin D, Dairy Products, and Mortality Among Colorectal Cancer Survivors: The Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort - Medscape, 10/20/14 - "In multivariate analysis, post-diagnosis total calcium intake was inversely associated with all-cause mortality (relative risk [RR] for those in the highest relative to the lowest quartiles, 0.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.53-0.98; Ptrend = .02). An inverse association with all-cause mortality was also observed for postdiagnosis milk intake (RR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.55-0.94; Ptrend = .02), but not for vitamin D intake"
• Calcium Intake and CVD Risks in Older Patients With T2DM - Medscape, 10/20/14 - "Our data indicated that 60.9% and 87.3% of our patients were Ca and Mg intakes below RDA, respectively. Patients whose Ca intake was high or low (81.2%) had significantly higher C-reactive protein (CRP) than those whose Ca intake was moderate (p = 0.043). Furthermore, patients whose Mg intake was low (87.3%) had significantly higher CRP than that of those who took adequate Mg (p = 0.025). The dietary Ca:Mg intake ratios were highly correlated with CRP, platelet counts, and red blood cell distribution (p < 0.05). A dietary Ca:Mg intake ratio of 2.0–2.5 was significantly correlated to lower CRP levels (p = 0.013)" - See Magtein at Amazon.com.
• Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements May Be Too Much - Medscape, 6/23/14 - "Even a modest calcium supplementation of 500 mg/day may be too high for some women ... [E]pisodes of hypercalcemia and hypercalciuria are common events with calcium and vitamin D supplementation; they are unrelated to vitamin D dose or serum 25(OH)D level ... Whether they are caused by calcium alone or by the combination of calcium with vitamin D remains uncertain ... “I would recommend that women determine how much calcium they typically get through their food sources before taking a hefty calcium supplement. They may not need as much as they think"
• Calcium Supplements and Cardiovascular Risk - Medscape, 11/22/13 - "Any benefit of calcium supplements on preventing fracture is outweighed by increased cardiovascular events. While there is little evidence to suggest that dietary calcium intake is associated with cardiovascular risk, there is also little evidence that it is associated with fracture risk. Therefore, for the majority of people, dietary calcium intake does not require close scrutiny. Because of the unfavorable risk/benefit profile, widespread prescribing of calcium supplements to prevent fractures should be abandoned"
• High Serum Calcium Linked to Developing Diabetes - Medscape, 9/24/13 - "High concentrations of serum calcium—but not necessarily calcium intake—are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, results from the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS) show ... IRAS enrolled 863 nondiabetic subjects (age 40–69) at four centers ... the relationship between calcium concentration and incident diabetes was statistically significant but did not follow a linear relationship. Only subjects with the highest concentrations of calcium (>2.38 mmol/L) had a significantly increased risk of developing diabetes"
• Calcium Supplements Linked to Longer Lifespans in Women - Science Daily, 5/22/13 - "Researchers analyzing data from the large-scale Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos) sought to clarify this issue and found moderate doses of calcium supplements had a beneficial effect in women ... The benefit was seen for women who took doses of up to 1,000 mg per day, regardless of whether the supplement contained vitamin D ... there was no statistical benefit for men ... the same benefits were seen when the calcium came from dairy foods, non-dairy foods or supplements"
• Endocrine disorder is most common cause of elevated calcium levels - Science Daily, 2/21/13 - "hyperparathyroidism is the leading cause of high blood-calcium levels and is responsible for nearly 90 percent of all cases"
• Risk of cardiovascular death doubled in women with high calcium intake: High risk only in those taking supplements as well - Science Daily, 2/12/13 - "Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden therefore studied 61,443 Swedish women (born between 1914 and 1948) for an average of 19 years to test this association ... The mean intake in the lowest quartile was 572mg/day (the equivalent of five slices of cheese ) and in the highest 2137mg/day ... Highest rates of all-cause, cardiovascular and heart disease were observed among those with a dietary calcium intake higher than 1400mg/day ... In addition, researchers observed higher death rates among women with an intake below 600mg/day ... Women who had a higher dietary intake of calcium exceeding 1400mg/day and also used supplements had a higher death rate compared to those not taking supplements. Women with a high dietary calcium intake (>1400 mg/day) were more than twice as likely to die compared with women with a 600-999mg/day calcium intake"
• Calcium Supplements Linked to Mortality Risk in Men, But Not Women - Medscape, 2/4/13 - "Compared with individuals who took no calcium, men who consumed 1000 mg or more of supplemental calcium per day had a significant 20% increased risk of CVD death, a risk that was driven by a significant 19% increased risk of heart-disease death ... taken from an analysis of the National Institutes of Health--AARP Diet and Health Study, a study that included 388 229 men and women 50 to 71 years of age from six US states ... mean follow-up of 12 years"
• Vitamin D with calcium shown to reduce mortality in elderly - Science Daily, 6/15/12 - "The findings from the study found that the reduced mortality was not due to a lower number of fractures, but represents a beneficial effect beyond the reduced fracture risk ... This is the largest study ever performed on effects of calcium and vitamin D on mortality ... Our results showed reduced mortality in elderly patients using vitamin D supplements in combination with calcium, but these results were not found in patients on vitamin D alone ... pooled data from eight randomized controlled trials with more than 1,000 participants each. The patient data set was composed of nearly 90 percent women, with a median age of 70 years. During the three-year study, death was reduced by 9 percent in those treated with vitamin D with calcium ... Some studies have suggested calcium (with or without vitamin D) supplements can have adverse effects on cardiovascular health ... Although our study does not rule out such effects, we found that calcium with vitamin D supplementation to elderly participants is overall not harmful to survival, and may have beneficial effects on general health" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Calcium supplements linked to significantly increased heart attack risk, study suggests - Science Daily, 5/23/12 - "Normal diet for the preceding 12 months was assessed using food frequency questionnaires ... Their health was tracked for an average of 11 years ... After taking account of factors likely to influence the results, those whose diets included a moderate amount (820 mg daily) of calcium from all sources, including supplements, had a 31% lower risk of having a heart attack than those in the bottom 25% of calcium intake ... But those with an intake of more than 1100 mg daily did not have a significantly lower risk. There was no evidence that any level of calcium intake either protected against or increased the risk of stroke ... those who took calcium supplements regularly were 86% more likely to have a heart attack than those who didn't use any supplements ... And this risk increased further among those who used only calcium supplements. They were more than twice as likely to have a heart attack as those who didn't take any supplements"
• Citrate key in bone's nanostructure - Science Daily, 6/8/11 - "At this point, we feel that citrate probably also has a role in the biomineralization of the apatite ... It's also been noted in the literature that as an organism ages, the nanocrystal thickness increases and the citrate concentration goes down ... "and there's also support from clinical studies that citrate is good for bones," adding that one of the leading supplements for bone strength contains calcium citrate ... While calcium loss is a major symptom in osteoporosis, the decline of citrate concentration may also contribute to bone brittleness" - Note:  I read a long time ago that the citrate form of most minerals was absorbed better and have been using that form for some time.  For example, see the magnesium citrate in magnesium supplements at Amazon.com.
• Increasing daily calcium will not reduce the risk of fractures in later life, study suggests - Science Daily, 5/24/11 - "women had the lowest risk of having a fracture when they consumed around 750 mg a day of calcium. However, the fracture risk in women who started to increase their calcium intake over time did not decrease ... while low levels of calcium intake (less than 700 mg per day) increase the risk of fractures and osteoporosis, there is no need to start increasing calcium intake above the amount. Increases did not further reduce the fracture and osteoporosis risk"
• Before you start bone-building meds, try dietary calcium and supplements, experts urge - Science Daily, 5/2/11 - "For many people, prescription bone-building medicines should be a last resort ... adults who increase their intake of calcium and vitamin D usually increase bone mineral density and reduce the risk for hip fracture significantly ... I suspect that many doctors reach for their prescription pads because they believe it's unlikely that people will change their diets ... prescription bone-building medications are expensive, and many have side effects, including ironically an increase in hip fractures and jaw necrosis. They should be used only if diet and supplements don't do the trick ... For bone health, the researchers also encourage consuming adequate protein, less sodium, and more magnesium and potassium"
• Report sets new dietary intake levels for calcium and vitamin D to maintain health and avoid risks associated with excess - Science Daily, 12/1/10 - "The science on calcium's role in bone health shows that 700 milligrams per day meets the needs of almost all children ages 1 through 3, and 1,000 milligrams daily is appropriate for almost all children ages 4 through 8. Adolescents ages 9 through 18 require no more than 1,300 milligrams per day. For practically all adults ages 19 through 50 and for men until age 71, 1,000 milligrams covers daily calcium needs. Women starting at age 51 and both men and women age 71 and older need no more than 1,200 milligrams per day ... As for vitamin D, 600 IUs daily meets the needs of almost everyone in the United States and Canada, although people 71 and older may require as much as 800 IUs per day because of potential physical and behavioral changes related to aging"
• Industry : Calcium research “cherry picked” results - Nutra USA, 7/30/10
• Calcium supplements play an important role in maintaining bone health, experts say - Science Daily, 7/29/10 - "The authors of the meta-analysis examined the effects of calcium supplements on the risk of cardiovascular events, concluding there is an increased risk, and calling for a reassessment of the role of calcium supplements for osteoporosis. According to CRN, these conclusions are dramatically overstated, considering the limitations of meta-analysis, in general, and this meta-analysis, specifically ... The authors characterize these findings as though all of the selected studies suggest increased risk. In fact, the opposite is true: most of the studies do not suggest increased risk ... these researchers are making sweeping judgments about the value of calcium supplements by only assessing a handful of handpicked studies ..."
• Calcium supplements linked to increased risk of heart attack, study finds - Science Daily, 7/29/10 - "calcium supplements were associated with about a 30% increased risk of heart attack and smaller, non-significant, increases in the risk of stroke and mortality"
• Low calcium intake linked with increased risk of osteoporosis and hypertension in postmenopausal women - Science Daily, 6/18/10 - "a significantly increased proportion of women (35.4%) who consumed a lower amount of calcium through intake from dairy sources, had a concurrent diagnosis of both hypertension and osteoporosis, compared with women who consumed a higher amount of calcium (19.3% p<0.001) ... Further statistical analyses revealed that a lower calcium intake was associated with an increased risk of developing hypertension or osteoporosis over time when compared with controls (Odds Ratio (OR) hypertension: 1.43; 95%CI: 1.12-1.82, osteoporosis: OR 1.46; CI: 1.15-1.85). Women who consumed a lower amount of calcium were shown to be most likely to develop both conditions over time compared with women consuming a higher amount of calcium (OR 1.60; CI: 1.09-2.34)"
• Calcium supplements: Too much of a good thing? - Science Daily, 6/1/10 - "The incidence of the so-called milk-alkali or calcium-alkali syndrome is growing in large part because of widespread use of over-the-counter calcium and vitamin D supplements ... the obvious preventive strategy against the calcium-alkali syndrome is to limit the intake of calcium to no more than 1.2 to 1.5 grams per day. "Calcium supplements taken in the recommended amounts are not only safe but are quite beneficial. Taken to excess is the problem""
• Calcium consumption may cause prostate cancer in Chinese, research suggests - Science Daily, 6/1/10 - "Results showed a 25 percent increased risk of prostate cancer when comparing those who consumed, on average, 659 mg vs. 211 mg of total calcium a day ... Major food sources of calcium in this population consisted of: vegetables (19.3 percent), dairy (17.3 percent), grain products (14.7 percent), soyfoods (11.8 percent), fruit (7.3 percent) and fish (6.2 percent). However, the researchers stress that there was no positive association with prostate cancer risk and any one particular food source ... Among men with less than average BMI (median BMI was 22.9 kg/m2), the researchers found a twofold increased risk of prostate cancer"
• Calcium in early life may prevent obesity later - Science Daily, 5/13/10 - "not getting enough calcium in the earliest days of life could have a more profound, lifelong impact on bone health and perhaps even obesity than previously thought"
• High calcium intakes may improve male survival: Study - Nutra USA, 2/25/10 - "The highest average intakes, almost double the recommended levels, were associated with a 25 per cent reduction in so-called all-cause mortality, compared with the lowest average intakes" - [Abstract]
• Benefits of calcium and vitamin D in preventing fractures confirmed - Science Daily, 1/14/10 - "both calcium and vitamin D supplements on a daily basis reduces the risk of bone fractures, regardless of whether a person is young or old, male or female, or has had fractures in the past, a large study of nearly 70,000 patients from throughout the United States and Europe has found" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• High Calcium Level In Arteries May Signal Serious Heart Attack Risk - Science Daily, 7/28/09
• Diabetics On High-fiber Diets Might Need Extra Calcium - Science Daily, 3/24/09 - "Our new findings suggest that dietary fiber reduces the body's capacity to absorb calcium"
• Calcium May Cut Cancer Risk - WebMD, 2/23/09 - "older men and women who got the most calcium from food and supplements had a 16% lower risk of colorectal and other cancers of the digestive system than those who got the least calcium"
• Calcium May Only Protect Against Colorectal Cancer In Presence Of Magnesium - Science Daily, 11/16/08 - "supplementation of calcium only reduced the risk of adenoma recurrence if the ratio of calcium to magnesium was low and remained low during treatment. "The risk of colorectal cancer adenoma recurrence was reduced by 32 percent among those with baseline calcium to magnesium ratio below the median in comparison to no reduction for those above the median"
• Too Much Calcium In Blood May Increase Risk Of Fatal Prostate Cancer - Science Daily, 9/3/08 - "Comparing men in the top third with men in the bottom third, we found a significantly increased hazard for fatal prostate cancer"
• Calcium With or Without Vitamin D May Help Prevent Osteoporosis - Medscape, 8/27/08 - "For best therapeutic effect, we recommend minimum doses of 1200 mg of calcium, and 800 IU of vitamin D (for combined calcium plus vitamin D supplementation)"
• Calcium Alone Does Not Reduce Hip Fracture Risk - Science Daily, 6/29/08 - "a recent analysis of several studies found no reduction in risk of hip fracture with calcium supplementation ... Future studies of fracture prevention should focus on the best combination of calcium plus vitamin D, rather than on calcium supplementation alone"
• Vitamin D And Calcium Influence Cell Death In The Colon, Researchers Find - Science Daily, 4/13/08 - "We were pleased that the effects of calcium and vitamin D were visible enough in this small study to be significant and reportable"
• Calcium: Heart Risk for Older Women? - WebMD, 1/15/08 - "The women in the supplement group got 861 milligrams of calcium from diet per day, on average, boosting their total daily intake to 1,861. The placebo group averaged about 853 milligrams of calcium daily from their diet ... The risk of a heart attack was about 1.5 times greater for those in the supplement group, but the link did not reach statistical significance ... the calcium supplements may elevate blood calcium levels and possibly speed calcification in blood vessels"
• Calcium In Coronary Arteries May Be Linked To Increased Risk For Heart Disease In Low-risk Women - Science Daily, 12/12/07
• Can Calcium & Vitamin D Reduce Diabetes Risk? - Physician's Weekly, 11/19/07 - "found a relatively consistent association between low vitamin D status, calcium or dairy intake, and prevalent type 2 diabetes based on the utilization of vitamin D and/or calcium supplementation ... a combination of vitamin D and calcium supplements may play a role in type 2 diabetes prevention particularly in high-risk populations"
• Low Calcium May Spur Breast Cancer Spread - oncologystat.com, 10/19/07 - "The study involved implanting breast cancer cells into mice and feeding them a low-calcium diet. The mice experienced a high bone turnover and showed a 43% increase in bone destruction, a 24% increase in tumor area, and a 24% increase in tumor cell proliferation compared to a control group"
• Calcium Supplements Thwart Bone Loss - WebMD, 8/23/07 - "For best therapeutic effect, we recommend minimum doses of 1200 milligrams [mg] of calcium, and 800 IU [international units] of vitamin D (for combined calcium plus vitamin D supplementation)"
• The Effect of High Calcium Levels on Prostate Cancer - Physician's Weekly, 8/13/07 - "the relative risk of prostate cancer for 2,000 mg/day or more of calcium intake was 1.63. Conversely, a 1.26 relative risk calculation was observed for ingestion of less than 1,000 mg/day of calcium"
• National Osteoporosis Foundation's Updated Recommendations for Calcium and Vitamin D3 Intake - Doctor's Guide, 7/16/07 - "adults aged 50 years and older should have 1200 mg of calcium/day and 800 to 1,000 I.U. of vitamin D3/day"
• Cancer Benefit From Vitamin D? - WebMD, 6/8/07 - "Women in the four-year study took 1,500 milligrams of calcium supplementation either alone or with 1,100 International Units (IU) of vitamin D each day ... women who took both supplements wound up with nearly 60% less risk of cancers at the end of the study compared with women who took placebo" - Vitamin D products at iHerb.
• Calcium/Vitamin D Slows Weight Gain - WebMD, 5/14/07 - "Half the women took 1,000 milligrams of calcium and 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D every day ... Women not taking enough calcium were getting the greatest benefit. They were 11% less likely to gain weight and more likely to remain weight-stable or lose weight"
• High Calcium And Vitamin D Intakes Associated WIth Higher Risk Of Cognitive Impairment In Elderly - Science Daily, 5/1/07 - "we do not know if high calcium and vitamin D intake are involved with the causation of brain lesions, but the study provides support to the growing number of researchers who are concerned about the effects of too much calcium, particularly among older adults, given the current emphasis on promoting high intakes of calcium and vitamin D"
• Calcium Lowers Cardiovascular Risk In People On A Weight Loss Program, Study Finds - Science Daily, 2/14/07 - "In addition to the low-calorie diet, participants were given daily tablets containing either a placebo or 1,200 mg of calcium with vitamin D "to facilitate calcium absorption," adds Dr. Tremblay. At the end of the 15-week period, researchers observed greater drops in LDL (bad cholesterol) and increases in HDL (good cholesterol) in the calcium-plus-vitamin D group than in the placebo group"
• Calcium May Reduce Colon Cancer Risk - WebMD, 1/16/07 - "Patients with a history of nonmalignant polyps took either 1,200 milligrams of calcium in supplement form or a placebo daily for four years ... Calcium use was associated with a 17% lower relative risk for polyp recurrence"
• Updated Position Statement for Calcium Intake in Postmenopausal Women - Medscape, 11/20/06 - "The recommended calcium requirement is 1000 mg daily for premenopausal women aged 25 to 50 years, and varies from 1200 to 1500 mg daily for postmenopausal women according to different organizations (National Institutes of Health, Institute of Medicine, and Osteoporosis Society of Canada)"
• Calcium again linked to lower colorectal cancer risk - Nutra USA, 11/8/06 - "the relative risk of colorectal cancer for the highest calcium intake group was 40 per cent lower compared to the lowest intake group"
• Extra Calcium May Prevent Hypertension Problems in Pregnant Women - Doctor's Guide, 7/21/06 - "Expectant mothers may be able to prevent potentially serious medical problems in themselves and their babies simply by boosting their daily calcium intake"
• Dairy Foods May Help Prevent Diabetes - WebMD, 7/11/06 - "each additional daily dairy serving was associated with a 4% drop in diabetes risk ... Women with the highest dietary calcium intake were about 20% less likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes than the ones who consumed the least amount of calcium ... the findings were stronger for low-fat dairy products than for high-fat dairy items"
• Calcium May Curb Middle-Aged Spread - WebMD, 6/30/06 - "of 5,341 women aged 53 to 57, those taking at least 500 milligrams of calcium each day gained about 11 pounds after age 45, compared to 15 pounds for those who didn't take the supplements"
• New Research Clarifies Roles Of Calcium, Vitamin D, And Protein In Bone Health, Fracture Risk - Science Daily, 6/6/06
• 5 things you need to know about calcium - MSNBC, 5/26/06 - "You may need more vitamin D. Current federal recommendations for adults aged 51 to 70 still call for the 400 IU daily used in these studies. Yet research now shows that 700 to 1,000 IU of vitamin D a day appears necessary to reach the most healthy blood levels of vitamin D. A daily intake of 400 IU is now considered inadequate to prevent fractures"
• Large Survey Finds Average Calcium Use Too Low Among Osteoporotic Women - Doctor's Guide, 5/2/06 - "the average daily intake of calcium among women was 660 mg/day, while the Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals (CFII) between 1994 and 1996 found that 90% of women over 50 years consume less than the reference 1200 mg/day"
• Calcium, vitamin D may lower diabetes risk - Nutra USA, 4/3/06 - "A combined daily intake of more than 1,200 milligrams of calcium and more than 800 international units (IU) of vitamin D was associated with a 33 per cent lower risk of type-2 diabetes"
• Role and Importance of Calcium in Preventing and Managing Osteoporosis - Medscape, 3/30/06 - "Although very high calcium intakes can overcome much of the absorptive block of vitamin D deficiency, the amounts needed are considerably in excess of calcium supplement doses used in most trials.[38] Therefore, unrecognized vitamin D deficiency will also confound a trial of calcium. This is not merely a theoretical concern. Various population-based studies indicate that prevalence of inadequate vitamin D status is high,[39] and in some groups nearly universal"
• Bone Supplements (Calcium and Vitamin D) review - ConsumerLab.com, 3/3/06 - "one product failed testing for containing 3.5 mcg of lead per daily serving"
• Vitamin D, calcium supplements could reduce falls in women, not men - Nutra USA, 2/28/06 - "700 IU of cholocalciferol (vitamin D3) plus 500 mg of calcium in the form of calcium citrate malate ... After three years of supplementation the researchers observed: “Long-term dietary cholocalciferol-calcium supplementation reduces the odds of falling in ambulatory (mobile) older women by 46 per cent, and especially in non-active women by 65 per cent.”"
• Calcium Plus Vitamin-D Supplementation Does An Older Body Good - Science Daily, 2/24/06 - "The older the woman, the more likely it is that consistent use of calcium and vitamin-D supplements will play a role in reducing her risk for osteoporosis"
• Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements Offer Modest Bone Improvements, No Benefits for Colorectal Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 2/16/06 - "women who consistently took the full supplement dose experienced a significant 29% decrease in hip fracture ... 1000 milligrams of calcium carbonate combined with 400 IUs of vitamin D3" - I'm not sure if they used enough vitamin D in this study plus why didn't they include magnesium and silicon plus why did the use the carbonate form of calcium when the citrate form is 2.5 times more bioavailable?  It's almost like they designed the study to fail.  See:
  • Vitamin D Does Prevent Fractures in Elderly - HealthDay, 5/10/05 - "If someone did not have a fracture yet, I would recommend 700 to 800 International Units (IU) of vitamin D a day, with at least 700 milligrams of calcium ... If you have had a fracture, you should discuss with your physician whether you may need more. The National Science Foundation says the safe upper limit is 2,000 units a day, so you can go to 1,500 units or higher, especially if you live in a country like the United Kingdom, where you have little exposure to sunlight"
  • Vitamin D: Important for Prevention of Osteoporosis, Cardiovascular Heart Disease, Type 1 Diabetes, Autoimmune Diseases, and Some Cancers - Medscape, 11/11/05 - "A multivitamin Containing 400 IU of vitamin D is inadequate to satisfy the body's requirement.[32] It is estimated that at least 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day is needed to satisfy the body's requirement"
  • Calcium Supplements: Benefits and Risks - Medscape, 1/26/05 - "Perhaps the most effective method of preventing osteoporosis is ingestion of adequate calcium. Experts suggest the daily requirement for calcium is 1,300 mg for people ages 9 to 18, 1,000 to 1,200 mg for adults 19 to 50, and 1,500 mg for people over 50 ... You should take only the amount of calcium recommended. Ingesting high doses of calcium each day can be harmful and can cause kidney stones"
  • A Deficiency of D? -  WshingtonPost.com, 4/5/05 - "most adults, especially those over 50, fall short on recommended daily levels of vitamin D, an essential nutrient long known to preserve bones and now increasingly tied to protection against ailments from cancer to rheumatoid arthritis ... the most practical way to increase our vitamin D levels is from supplements ... a growing number of scientists believe that vitamin D intake should be at least 1,000 IU or higher"
  • Dietary Magnesium Could Lead to Stronger Bones - Doctor's Guide, 12/21/05 - "For every 100 milligram per day increase in magnesium intake, data showed a 1% increase in bone density ... this link was only true for the older white men and women"
  • Silicon May Play Important Role in Bone Health - Doctor's Guide, 9/27/05 - "Silicon, taken as choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid (ch-OSA) supplementation, might help improve bone health and type I collagen synthesis ... the benefits were especially apparent when evaluating changes in PINP, the most sensitive bone formation marker, and resulted in significant improvements after 12 months amongst the subjects in the six and 12 mg silicon groups" - See Jarrow BioSil at iHerb.
  • Life Extension Foundation Newsletter - 2/18/06 - "The dosage of vitamin D in this study was 400 international units, an amount determined to be too low to maintain optimal serum levels of the vitamin in other research. Additionally, the form of calcium used was calcium carbonate, which is commonly sold as an antacid and is not known to be one of better absorbed forms of the mineral"
  • Calcium Citrate Shown to Have Superior Bioavailability and Protects Against Bone Loss - Medscape, 11/21/00 - "the calcium supplement formulation calcium citrate was 2.5 times more bioavailable than calcium carbonate, even when given with a meal, the optimum method of ensuring calcium carbonate absorption"
  • See Body Wise Essential Calcium.  It contains calcium citrate, magnesium, boron, silica and more.
• Counting on Calcium? - Dr. Weil, 4/24/06
• US teens not getting sufficient calcium - Nutra USA, 2/6/06 - "The article, published in the journal Pediatrics (Vol. 117, pp. 578-585), reported that about 30 per cent of boys and only 10 per cent of girls were achieving the recommended daily intake (RDI) of calcium" - [WebMD]
• Eat Dairy Foods, Avoid Breast Cancer? - WebMD, 12/14/05 - "Women who had the highest dietary calcium intake were 20% less likely to have been diagnosed with breast cancer than those whose diets were lowest in dietary calcium"
• Iron, calcium linked to lung cancer - Nutra USA, 12/5/05 - "The risk of lung cancer increased by 50 per cent for calcium intake greater than 1270 mg per day ... the increased lung cancer risk was the result of nonheme iron [iron from plant sources]… heme iron [from animal sources] was associated with decreased risk of lung cancer"
• Too much calcium may raise prostate cancer risk - Nutra USA, 11/15/05 - "men who consumed more than 2000mg of calcium per day nearly doubled their risk of developing prostate cancer"
• Women Need More Calcium, Say Experts - WebMD, 9/28/05
• Postmenopausal Women Falling Far Short of Calcium Goals: Presented at ASBMR - Doctor's Guide, 9/28/05 - "A study finds that 85% of postmenopausal women do not consume enough calcium every day, and on average consume about 500 mg less than the US government's recommended daily intake (RDA)"
• Calcium Supplements May Help Prevent Polyps - WebMD, 7/19/05 - "people who took calcium had about a 25% lower risk of developing polyps in their colon"
• Calcium, Vitamin D in Diet May Prevent PMS - WebMD, 6/13/05 - "Those who ate about four servings a day of low-fat dairy or yogurt or fortified orange juice had a 40% lower risk of PMS than those who did not. That is about 1,200 milligrams of calcium or 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D each day"
• Fortified Orange Juice May Not Deliver What You Expect - CBS 2 Chicago, 5/24/05 - "calcium in some juices is absorbed better than others ... a kind of calcium called calcium citrate malate is the best absorbed. It's found in Tropicana juice"
• Calcium Supplements Keep on Working Even After They Are Stopped - Doctor's Guide, 4/21/05 - "People at high risk of colon cancer appear to reduce the risk of developing polyps while taking calcium supplements and continue to benefit for as long as 5 years after they stop taking them"
• Statins Lower Prostate Cancer Risk - WebMD, 4/18/05 - "long-term use of calcium supplements protects against the development of potentially precancerous colon polyps for years after you stop taking them"
• Dairy calcium has 'no effect' on weight - Nutra USA, 4/18/05
• Calcium as Part of a Normal Protein Diet May Increase Fecal Fat and Energy Excretion - Medscape, 3/29/05 - "A short-term increase in dietary calcium intake, together with a normal protein intake, increased fecal fat and energy excretion by [approximately] 350 kJ/day ... This observation may contribute to explain why a high-calcium diet produces weight loss, and it suggests that an interaction with dietary protein level may be important"
• Osteoporosis and Bone Health - Physician's Weekly, 3/21/05 - "Calcium and vitamin D intakes are far below recommended levels for all ages, sexes, and races in the United States"
• Study: Dairy Not Best Source of Calcium - WebMD, 3/7/05 - "Of 37 studies reviewed, 27 were found to show no relationship between dairy or dietary calcium and bone health in children and young adults. The remaining studies found only a small association"
• Calcium Boost To Youths’ Bones Could Reduce Osteoporosis Risk - Science Daily, 2/1/05 - "elevated calcium use by pre-adolescent girls is likely to help prevent fractures and osteoporosis much later in life"
• Calcium May Help Prevent Colorectal Cancer - WebMD, 1/28/05
• Calcium Supplements: Benefits and Risks - Medscape, 1/26/05 - "Perhaps the most effective method of preventing osteoporosis is ingestion of adequate calcium. Experts suggest the daily requirement for calcium is 1,300 mg for people ages 9 to 18, 1,000 to 1,200 mg for adults 19 to 50, and 1,500 mg for people over 50 ... You should take only the amount of calcium recommended. Ingesting high doses of calcium each day can be harmful and can cause kidney stones"
• UT Southwestern Researchers Find Calcium Intake Contributing Factor In Formation Of Kidney Stones - Science Daily, 1/19/05 - "Individuals with either calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate kidney stones should not take extra calcium on their own as suggested by previous research, but should check with their doctors to determine the dietary guidelines that work best for them"
• Calcium Intake Contributing Factor In Formation Of Kidney Stones - Doctor's Guide, 12/29/04 - "urinary calcium - the amount of calcium in a person's urine - is an important contributing factor in the formation of both types of kidney stones. Earlier studies had downplayed the significance of calcium when compared to the levels of oxalate in urine, and even encouraged kidney stone patients to increase their dietary intake of calcium"
• The high five for hypertension - Functional Foods & Nutraceuticals, 12/04 - "Co-enzyme Q10 ... Omega-3 fatty acids ... Garlic ... L-arginine ... Calcium"
• Scientists call for calcium, vitamin D fortification - Nutra USA, 7/28/04 - "Americans consume inadequate dietary calcium and vitamin D – far below the recommended levels established by the Food Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences" - See iHerb or Vitacost vitamin D products.
• Calcium More Protective Against Some Polyps - WebMD, 6/15/04 - "The calcium group had 18% fewer noncancerous polyps and 35% fewer advanced polyps ... compared with the placebo group ... her study suggests that total calcium intake over 1,200 mg daily is necessary for colon protection -- and that a high-fiber diet with modest levels of fat will boost the protective effects"
• Milk: It Does a Health Care System Good - WebMD, 1/29/04 - "estimated the health benefits and health care cost savings involved if all Americans increased their daily intake of calcium to the recommended level. For most adults, the recommended intake ranges from 1,000-1,500 mg per day ... Fractures due to osteoporosis would be reduced by 20% in a year ... High blood pressure would be reduced by 40% in one year"
• The Changing Paradigm in Osteoporosis Treatment - Physician's Weekly, 1/5/04 - "Patients should wait 4 to 6 hours between doses of calcium servings because the body will not absorb more than 500 mg at a time"
• Calcium Intake Plus Vitamin D May Protect Against Colon Adenomas - Medscape, 12/2/03 - "Calcium supplementation reduces the rate of colon adenomas, but only if vitamin D levels are adequate"
• Elevated Serum Calcium Linked to Increased Carotid-Artery Plaque Thickness - Doctor's Guide, 11/4/03 - "People with elevations of serum calcium also have thicker carotid-artery plaques, and therefore may be at greater risk of a stroke ... This finding is important, because the risk of myocardial infarction…increases 5-fold within 5 years for every 0.16 mm of carotid-wall thickness"
• Increasing Calcium More Likely to Lower Blood Pressure Than Decreasing Sodium - Doctor's Guide, 10/12/03 - "When the diet is "balanced with no deficit in minerals, salt is not a problem," he said. "Salt becomes a problem when the diet is calcium deficient. Specifically, as calcium intake increases, blood pressure decreases."" - See Tums at drugstore.com.
• Best Ways To Fight Osteoporosis - CBS News, 9/18/03 - "64 percent of women don't know how much calcium they need every day ... women from 19- to 50-years-old should consume 1,000 mg; and women over 50-years-old should consume 1,200 mg ... a high calcium intake will not protect a person against bone loss caused by estrogen deficiency, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol abuse or various medical disorders or treatments"
• Supplement Week: Calcium: How much is too much? - Dr. Weil, 9/4/03
• Low Dietary Calcium May be Major Cause of Nutritional Rickets Among North American Infants - Doctor's Guide, 8/12/03 - "New research shows that some North American infants are not receiving enough dietary calcium and, as a result, are developing rickets -- a disease usually attributed to a lack of vitamin D or insufficient exposure to sunlight -- at a higher level than previously thought"
• Vitamin D and Calcium Supplementation Effective for Prevention and Treatment of Osteoporosis - Doctor's Guide, 7/18/03 - "Adequate vitamin D and calcium intake is essential to the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends 200 IU/day of vitamin D for women aged 50 or younger years, 400 IU/day for those aged 51-70 years, and 600 IU/day for those older than 70 years ... In women over the age of 65, there is increased risk of osteoporotic fracture of the hip and non-vertebral sites. Daily vitamin D intake between 800 and 900 IU and 1200-1300 mg of calcium for this population results in increased bone density, decreased bone turnover, and decreased non-vertebral fractures ... Studies have linked vitamin D supplementation to a decrease in body sway, suggesting that vitamin D supplementation may protect against fracture by preventing falls" - See drugstore.com/GNC calcium plus vitamin D supplements.
• High Dietary Calcium Intake Associated with Lower Age-Related Hypertension - Doctor's Guide, 7/16/03 - "In industrialized nations, SBP increases with age, whereas diastolic blood pressure (DBP) tends to decrease with age, thereby increasing pulse pressure (defined as the difference between SBP and DBP) ... higher calcium intake was associated with lower rates of age-related increases of systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure ... If the calcium intake of the general population were to increase to above 1,200 mg, the incidence of isolated systolic hypertension in the elderly might be decreased" - See drugstore.com/GNC calcium supplements.
• Guarding Your Gums? - Dr. Weil, 6/16/03 - "Periodontal disease is a chronic gum infection caused by bacteria in plaque ... Coenzyme Q10: Take 120 mg per day of a soft-gel form with meals ... young women who get less than 800 mg of calcium a day have double the risk of periodontal disease" - See iHerb or Vitacost coenzyme Q10 products.
• Regulators want to stop false health claims about coral calcium supplements - USA Today, 6/10/03 - "The Federal Trade Commission is asking a federal court in Chicago to shut down an operation that sells Coral Calcium Supreme, a product advertised with one of the most widely run infomercials on cable television this year"
• The Dairy Calcium in Yogurt Helps People Lose Belly - WebMD, 4/15/03 - "put 34 obese people on a low-cal diet. Sixteen of them got pills with 400 to 500 mg of calcium per day. The other 18 people ate enough yogurt to give them 1100 mg of calcium per day ... After 12 weeks, everybody lost a lot of fat ... Sixty percent of the yogurt eaters' weight loss was belly fat, while only 26% of the comparison group's loss was belly fat"
• Calcium for Weight Loss? - WebMD, 4/14/03
• Calcium Supplementation and Exercise Improves Bone Mineral Status in Adolescent Girls - Doctor's Guide, 4/10/03
• Vitamin D Plus Calcium Supplements Boosts Calcium Absorption - WebMD, 4/1/03 - "We need calcium for good bones, but vitamin D is equally important -- it helps the body with calcium absorption. In fact, calcium supplements plus vitamin D can increase calcium absorption by up to 65%"
• Postmenopausal Women May Need Supplements To Suppress Parathyroid Hormone Levels - Doctor's Guide, 12/20/02 - "These findings may call for widespread supplementation with calcium and vitamin D may be required in postmenopausal women"
• Formulation of some calcium supplements interferes with calcium absorption - Doctor's Guide, 9/23/02 - "The formulation of some calcium carbonate supplements significantly interferes with calcium absorption and patients may thus be getting substantially less calcium than might be presumed based on product labeling ... the team found that only two calcium carbonate supplements - both oral tablets, although one was chewable - had rates of absorbability that were comparable to plain calcium carbonate ... The other six supplements were substantially less absorbable ... Our findings suggest that pharmaceutical formulation affects absorbability...and we encourage industry to study this issue and to produce calcium supplements with demonstrated absorbability"
• Osteoporosis in Elderly Men Underestimated - Doctor's Guide, 6/24/02 - "As many as 30 percent of men over 65 years old may have osteoporosis ... The serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), although normal, was slightly lower in men with osteoporosis, an average of 1.57+/-0.74 in comparison to an average of 2.34+/-1.93 in men with no osteoporosis ... Because both groups of men have low-normal 25-OH vitamin D, and low urinary calcium, the investigators suggest that patients in their situation, could benefit from enhancing their nutritional status"
• Counting on Coral Calcium? - Dr. Weil, 6/18/02
• Getting Calcium On Young Girls' Radar - Intelihealth, 5/23/02 - "Ninety percent of girls ages 9 to 12 don't get enough calcium in their diets ... Ninety to 98 percent of your skeletal system is developed by age 20, so it's important that these bone-healthy activities are done early. After that, you're either going to maintain the bone density or you're going to lose it"
• Calcium and Vitamin D3 Effective and Cost-Saving in Preventing Hip Fracture in Elderly European Women - Doctor's Guide, 5/13/02 - "simple dietary supplementation with calcium and vitamin D not only helps prevent hip fracture in institutionalized elderly women, it also saves up to 711,000 Euros (some US $640,000) per 1000 treated ... One group received elemental 1200 mg/day calcium plus 800 IU/day vitamin D3, while the other received a placebo. After three years, 25 percent fewer hip fractures were found among members of the supplemented group ... The savings may even be greater than this: remember, this study only takes into account hip fractures, but supplementation could prevent many other types of fracture as well"
• Calcium, Vitamin D3 Supplementation Reduces Hyperparathyroidism And Hip Fracture - Doctor's Guide, 5/9/02 - "Supplementation with a combination of calcium and vitamin D3 reverses hyperparathyroidism and the risk of hip fracture in elderly women"
• Calcium Citrate May Also Lower Cholesterol In Women - Doctor's Guide, 4/24/02 - ""This study showed that 1 gram of calcium (as the citrate) taken daily lowers the damaging component of blood cholesterol (LDL or low-density lipoprotein), and increases the protective cholesterol (HDL or high-density lipoprotein). As a result, calcium citrate may reduce the incidence of heart attacks and angina in postmenopausal women," ... study was designed to determine the effect of calcium supplementation with calcium citrate (1 gram daily as Citracal® Ultradense™ calcium citrate) on circulating lipid concentrations in normal older women"
• Aging Bone Mineral Density Better With High Protein Diet Plus Extra Calcium, Vitamin D - Doctor's Guide, 4/1/02
• High-Protein Diet Could Repair Bone Loss - WebMD, 3/25/02 - "The supplement group -- particularly those who ate a diet high in protein -- had significantly better bone mass density -- an accurate measure of bone loss. Those who took the placebo, however, had less calcium absorbed into their bloodstream when they consumed more protein"
• Bones Need Both Calcium and Phosphorus - WebMD, 3/20/02 - "taking a lot of calcium supplements without enough phosphorus could be a waste of money ... Rhodia, a major producer of calcium phosphates, partially funded this research" - I read an article on this several years ago and it said that the average American diet already gets too much phosphorus. - Ben
• Calcium Intake May Be Associated With Reduced Risk Of Colon Cancer - Intelihealth, 3/19/02 - "Men and women who included more than 700 to 800 mg of calcium in their diets each day had a 40% to 50% lower risk of distal colon cancer compared with participants taking less than 500 mg of calcium each day"
• Boning Up on Calcium Fights Colon Cancer - WebMD, 3/19/02
• Study: Calcium may help determine risk of stroke - USA Today, 1/31/02
• Kids Plagued by 'Calcium Crisis' - WebMD, 12/14/01 - "Only 14% of girls and 36% of boys age 12 to 19 in the U.S. are getting the recommended amounts of calcium, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture ... Close to 90% of adult bone is established by the end of the teen years. So if kids are off to a bad start in getting enough calcium, says the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), down the road, they are at serious risk of developing the brittle-bone disease osteoporosis as well as other bone diseases"
• Calcium, Vitamin D Help You Hold on to Those Pearly Whites - WebMD, 10/29/01 - "examined 145 healthy men and women aged 65 and older who had taken either calcium plus vitamin D supplements or placebo ... The calcium was given at a dose of 500 mg and vitamin D at 700 IU daily ... 27% of the placebo group, but only 13% of the supplement group, lost one or more teeth during the three-year study ... Once the study was finished, the researchers continued to count teeth for a couple of more years. Again, they found that those taking in at least 1,000 mg of calcium each day were able to hold on to more teeth"
• Mining Mineral Supplements - Nutrition Science News, 7/01 - "One approach is to provide both minerals, but at different times of day in different products. Another is to accept the antagonism but provide enough of each mineral so each can be of benefit. If it is eventually shown that certain mineral complexes are only mildly antagonistic, then providing these forms together would enhance patient compliance"
• Calcium Pills May Stave Off Colon Cancer - WebMD, 3/9/01 - "among patients who took calcium (for one year), the size and growth of the benign tumors -- as measured by pathologists who looked at tissue biopsies -- was reduced by 58%. In contrast, only a 26% reduction was seen in patients who did not take calcium . . . The protective effect of calcium was most pronounced among the patients on a low-fat diet and taking calcium: 73% of those patients had noticeable reductions in adenomas. In contrast, there were no differences in adenoma reductions between high-fat eaters in the calcium and no-calcium groups"
• Calcium Citrate Shown to Have Superior Bioavailability and Protects Against Bone Loss - Medscape, 11/21/00 - "the calcium supplement formulation calcium citrate was 2.5 times more bioavailable than calcium carbonate, even when given with a meal, the optimum method of ensuring calcium carbonate absorption" - See Citracal at drugstore.com.

Abstracts:

• Dietary calcium intake and the risk of stroke: Meta-analysis of cohort studies - Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 2023 Feb 24 - "Compared with the lowest value of zero assumed as the reference, the RRs (95% CI) of stroke across levels of calcium intake were 0.95 (0.92, 0.98) for 200 mg/day, 0.94 (0.90, 0.98) for 300 mg/day, 0.95 (0.90, 0.99) for 500 mg/day, 0.98 (0.93, 1.03) for 700 mg/day, and 1.04 (0.97, 1.11) for 1000 mg/day ... his meta-analysis suggests that dietary calcium intake might play an effective role in the prevention of stroke, especially in Asian countries"
• Serum calcium and magnesium were inversely associated with high sensitivity C-reactive protein in Chinese adults with coronary artery disease - Curr Med Res Opin 2023 Mar 13 - "Generally, our study showed the significant inverse associations of serum Ca and Mg with hsCRP in CAD patients. Our findings provided further support for the anti-inflammatory effects of Ca and Mg in CAD patients" - See calcium products at Amazon.com and magnesium supplements at Amazon.com. I'm not a fan of taking calcium supplements.
• Vitamin D Supplementation and Fractures in Adults: A Systematic Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses of Controlled Trials - J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2022 Feb 17 - "Ca/D reduces the risk of hip and any fractures, possibly driven by findings from institutionalized individuals. Individual participant data meta-analyses of patients on Ca/D" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Association of Total Calcium With Serum Uric Acid Levels Among United States Adolescents Aged 12-19 Years: A Cross-Sectional Study - Front Med (Lausanne) 2022 Jun 10 - "In United States adolescents, total CA levels were linearly and positively correlated with SUA levels"
• Calcium Supplementation, Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases, and Mortality: A Real-World Study of the Korean National Health Insurance Service Data - Nutrients 2022 Jun 18 - "The cumulative incidence of acute myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and death was significantly higher in the calcium supplementation group than in the control group (p &lt; 0.05 by log-rank test). The calcium supplementation group had a significantly higher risk of myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and death than the control group. Compared to the control group, the hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of the incidence of myocardial infarction, stroke, and death in the supplementation group were 1.14 (1.03-1.27), 1.12 (1.05-1.20), and 1.40 (1.32-1.50), respectively, after adjusting for confounding variables. Considering the associated cardiovascular risk, calcium supplementation for osteoporosis treatment should be administered cautiously"
• Health effects of high serum calcium levels: Updated phenome-wide Mendelian randomisation investigation and review of Mendelian randomisation studies - EBioMedicine 2022 Feb 5 - "Higher genetically predicted calcium levels were associated with decreased risk of 5 diseases in dermatologic and musculoskeletal systems and increased risk of 17 diseases in circulatory, digestive, endocrine, genitourinary and immune systems. Eight associations were replicated in two-sample MR analysis. These included decreased risk of osteoarthritis and increased risk of coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, coronary atherosclerosis, hyperparathyroidism, disorder of parathyroid gland, gout, and calculus of kidney and ureter with increased serum calcium. Systematic review of 25 MR studies provided supporting evidence on five out of the eight disease outcomes, while the increased risk of gout, hyperparathyroidism and disorder of parathyroid gland were novel findings"
• Acute CTX-1 Suppression With Milk Calcium or Calcium Carbonate is Independent of Visceral Fat in A Randomized Crossover Study in Lean and Overweight Postmenopausal Women - J Nutr 2021 Nov 9 - "Postmenopausal women with higher visceral adipose tissue (VAT) present with suppressed bone resorption (lower c-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen, CTX-1) and turnover (lower osteocalcin) but whether this blunts the effect of calcium is unknown ... 1000 mg calcium obtained from milk or from calcium carbonate is effective in acutely suppressing bone resorption in postmenopausal women irrespective of visceral fat"
• Vitamin D Deficiency and Low Serum Calcium as Predictors of Poor Prognosis in Patients with Severe COVID-19 - J Am Coll Nutr 2021 Jan 12 - "Hypovitaminosis D and hypocalcemia were very common, occurring in 75% and 35.8% of patients. When analyzing survival, both were significantly associated with in-hospital mortality in a dose-effect manner (pLog-Rank = 0.009 and 0.001 respectively). A cutoff value of 39 nmol/l for vitamin D and 2.05 mmol/l for corrected calcemia could predict poor prognosis with a sensitivity of 76% and 84%, and a specificity of 69% and 60% respectively. Hazard ratios were (HR = 6.9, 95% CI [2.0-24.1], p = 0.002 and HR = 6.2, 95% CI [2.1-18.3], p = 0.001) respectively ... This study demonstrates the high frequency of hypocalcemia and hypovitaminosis D in severe COVID-19 patients and provides further evidence of their potential link to poor short-term prognosis. It is, therefore, possible that the correction of hypocalcemia, as well as supplementation with vitamin D, may improve the vital prognosis" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com and calcium products at Amazon.com.
• Nutrients to mitigate osteosarcopenia: the role of protein, vitamin D and calcium - Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 2020 Nov 2 - "An adequate intake of protein (1.2-1.5 g/kg/day), vitamin D (800 IU/day) and calcium (1000-1200 mg/day), is well tolerated and effective at mitigating some aspects of osteosarcopenia such as lean mass, bone density and fracture risk" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com and vitamin D at iHerb.
• Vitamin D, magnesium, calcium, and their interaction in relation to colorectal cancer recurrence and all-cause mortality - Am J Clin Nutr. 2020 Mar 19 - "An inverse association between magnesium intake (HRQ3 vs. Q1: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.32, 0.95 and HRQ4 vs. Q1: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.35, 1.21), but not calcium intake, and all-cause mortality was observed. When investigating the interaction between 25(OH)D3 and magnesium, we observed the lowest risk of all-cause mortality in patients with sufficient vitamin D concentrations (≥50 nmol/L) and a high magnesium intake (median split) (HR: 0.53; 95% CI: 0.31, 0.89) compared with patients who were vitamin D deficient (<50 nmol/L) and had a low magnesium intake. No interactions between calcium and vitamin D in relation to all-cause mortality were observed ... Our findings suggest that the presence of an adequate status of 25(OH)D3 in combination with an adequate magnesium intake is essential in lowering the risk of mortality in CRC patients, yet the underlying mechanism should be studied. In addition, diet and lifestyle intervention studies are needed to confirm our findings"
• Association between Depressive Symptoms and Supplemental intake of Calcium and Vitamin D in Older Adults - J Nutr Health Aging. 2020;24(1):107-112 - "When compared to the non-supplementation group, the Ca group exhibited a significant odds ratio (OR) of 0.731 (95% CI: 0.552-0.967, P=0.028). After adjusting for age, sex, and Ca food sources, the OR was even smaller for the CaD group (OR: 0.326; 95% CI: 0.119-0.889, P=0.029). Additionally, our results indicated that taking Ca supplements ≥4 days/week yielded a significant OR of 0.690 (95% CI: 0.492-0.968) after full adjustment. Taking CaD supplements ≥4 days/week yielded a significant OR of 0.282 (95% CI: 0.089-0.898) after adjusting for age, sex, and Ca food sources ... Supplemental intake of Ca or CaD ≥4 days/week can decrease the risk of depressive symptoms in older adults, although CaD supplements may be more effective"
• Association between dietary calcium intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease among Korean adults - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2019 Nov 4 - "In the fully adjusted model, HRs of CVD across increasing quintiles of dietary calcium intake were 1.0 (reference), 0.85 (95% CI: 0.66-1.10), 0.77 (95% CI: 0.58-1.02), 0.59 (95% CI: 0.42-0.83), and 0.72 (95% CI: 0.48-1.08); a significant linear trend was detected (p for trend = 0.04). However, this association varied according to the obesity status. High dietary calcium intake was associated with a reduced CVD risk among nonobese participants (body mass index [BMI] < 25 kg/m2; p for trend = 0.02), whereas this was not significant among obese participants (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2; p for trend = 0.88)"
• Associations between calcium and magnesium intake and the risk of incident gastric cancer, a prospective cohort analysis of the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study - Int J Cancer. 2019 Aug 31 - "We used Cox proportional hazard modeling to estimate the association between calcium and magnesium intakes with risk of incident gastric adenocarcinoma (GA) overall and by anatomic location, noncardia (NCGA) and cardia (CGA). A total of 536,403 respondents (59% males, 41% females) were included for analysis, among whom 1,518 incident GAs (797 NCGA, 721 CGA) occurred. Increasing calcium intake was associated with lower risk of GA overall (p-trend = 0.05), driven primarily by the association with NCGA, where above median calcium intakes were associated with a 23% reduction in risk compared to the lowest quartile (p-trend = 0.05). This magnitude of NCGA risk reduction was greater among non-white races and Hispanics (HR 0.51, 95% CI: 0.24-1.07, p-trend = 0.04), current/former smokers (HR 0.58, 95% CI: 0.41-0.81), obese individuals (HR 0.54,95% CI: 0.31-0.96), and those with high NCGA risk scores (HR 0.50, 95% CI: 0.31-0.80). Among men only, increasing magnesium intake was associated with 22-27% reduced risk of NCGA (p-trend = 0.05), while for the cohort, dietary magnesium intake in the highest versus lowest quartile was associated with a 34% reduced risk of NCGA (HR 0.66, 95% CI: 0.48-0.90). These findings have important implications for risk factor modification and personalized prevention" - See magnesium supplements at Amazon.com.
• Dietary calcium intake and rate of bone loss in men - Br J Nutr. 2017 Jun 13:1-7 - "Baseline BMD was not related to dietary Ca intake at any site, before or after adjustment for covariables. Similarly, bone loss over 2 years was not related to Ca intake at any site, before or after adjustment. Dietary Ca intake was inversely correlated with PTH at baseline (r -0·19, P=0·02), but was not associated with the markers of bone turnover. BMD and rates of bone loss were unrelated to Ca intake in these men. This suggests that strategies to increase Ca intake are unlikely to impact on the prevalence of and morbidity from male osteoporosis" - Note:  That doesn't surprise me.  There's a lot more to it than just calcium and vitamin D.  See my osteoporosis page to get a feel for the other nutrients involved.
• Calcium intake and breast cancer risk: meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies - Br J Nutr. 2016 May 12:1-9 - "The overall RR of breast cancer for high v. low intake of Ca was 0.92 (95 % CI 0.85, 0.99), with moderate heterogeneity (P=0.026, I 2=44.2 %). In the subgroup analysis, the inverse association appeared stronger for premenopausal breast cancer (RR 0.75; 95 % CI 0.59, 0.96) than for postmenopausal breast cancer (RR 0.94; 95 % CI 0.87, 1.01). Dose-response analysis revealed that each 300 mg/d increase in Ca intake was associated with 2 % (RR 0.98; 95 % CI 0.96, 0.99), 8 % (RR 0.92; 95 % CI 0.87, 0.98) and 2 % (RR 0.98; 95 % CI 0.97, 0.99) reduction in the risk of total, premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer, respectively. Our findings suggest an inverse dose-response association between Ca intake and risk of breast cancer"
• Acute effects of calcium supplements on blood pressure and blood coagulation: secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial in post-menopausal women - Br J Nutr. 2015 Sep 30 - "Recent evidence suggests that Ca supplements increase the risk of cardiovascular events, but the mechanism(s) by which this occurs is uncertain ... We randomised 100 post-menopausal women to 1 g/d of Ca or a placebo containing no Ca ... Blood pressure declined over 8 h in both the groups, consistent with its normal diurnal rhythm. The reduction in systolic blood pressure was smaller in the Ca group compared with the control group by >5 mmHg between 2 and 6 h (P≤0.02), and the reduction in diastolic blood pressure was smaller at 2 h (between-groups difference 4.5 mmHg, P=0.004). Blood coagulability, assessed by TEG, increased from baseline over 8 h in the calcium citrate and control groups. At 4 h, the increase in the coagulation index was greater in the calcium citrate group compared with the control group (P=0.03), which appeared to be due to a greater reduction in the time to clot initiation"
• Dietary intake of calcium and magnesium and the metabolic syndrome in the National Health and Nutrition Examination (NHANES) 2001-2010 data - Br J Nutr. 2015 Aug 11:1-12 - "Higher dietary intakes of Mg and Ca, individually, have been associated with a decreased risk for the metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) ... We found an inverse association between the highest (>355 mg/d) v. the lowest (<197 mg/d) quartile of Mg and MetSyn (OR 0·70; 95 % CI 0·57, 0·86). Women who met the RDA for both Mg (310-320 mg/d) and Ca (1000-1200 mg/d) had the greatest reduced odds of MetSyn (OR 0·59; 95 % CI 0·45, 0·76). In men, meeting the RDA for Mg (400-420 mg/d) and Ca (1000-1200 mg/d), individually or in combination, was not associated with MetSyn; however, men with intakes in the highest quartile for Mg (≥386 mg/d) and Ca (≥1224 mg/d) had a lower odds of MetSyn (OR 0·74; 95 % CI 0·59, 0·93). Our results suggest that women who meet the RDA for Mg and Ca have a reduced odds of MetSyn but men may require Ca levels higher than the RDA to be protected against MetSyn" - [Nutra USA] - See Jarrow Formulas, MagMind at Amazon.com.
• Total, dietary, and supplemental calcium intake and mortality from all-causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer: A meta-analysis of observational studies - Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2015 Mar 24 - "We found a significant relationship between the total calcium intake and an increased risk of CVD mortality for studies with a long follow-up time and a significant protective association between dietary calcium intake and all-cause and CVD mortality for studies with a mean follow-up of ≤10 years. Supplemental calcium intake was associated with a decreased risk of all-cause mortality"
• Vitamin D Status Is Positively Associated with Calcium Absorption among Postmenopausal Thai Women with Low Calcium Intakes - J Nutr. 2015 Mar 25 - "These findings suggest that vitamin D status is an important determinant of calcium absorption among Thai women with low calcium intakes, and cassia may be a readily available source of calcium in this population" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Serum magnesium, phosphorus, and calcium are associated with risk of incident heart failure: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2014 Jul 16 - "A total of 14,709 African Americans (27%) and whites from the ARIC cohort [aged 45-64 y at baseline (1987-1989)] were observed through 2009 ... A total of 2250 incident HF events accrued over a median follow-up of 20.6 y. Participants in the lowest (≤1.4 mEq/L) compared with the highest (≥1.8 mEq/L) category of magnesium were at greater HF risk (HR: 1.71; 95% CI: 1.46, 1.99). For phosphorus, there appeared to be a threshold whereby only those in the highest quintile were at greater HF risk [HR(Q5 vs Q1): 1.34; 95% CI: 1.16, 1.54]. Higher concentrations of calcium were also associated with greater risk of HF [HR(Q5 vs Q1): 1.24; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.43] ... Low serum magnesium and high serum phosphorus and calcium were independently associated with greater risk of incident HF in this population-based cohort" - See magnesium supplements at Amazon.com.
• Elevated brain lesion volumes in older adults who use calcium supplements: a cross-sectional clinical observational study - Br J Nutr. 2014 Apr 30:1-8 - "The influence of supplemental Ca use on lesion volume was of a magnitude similar to that of the influence of hypertension, a well-established risk factor for lesions"
• Total calcium intake and colorectal adenoma in young women - Cancer Causes Control. 2014 Feb 22 - "Total calcium intake appears to reduce occurrence of colorectal adenoma; however, the dose necessary for prevention in young women is unclear ... analysis among 41,403 participants in the Nurses' Health Study II ... Compared with 1,001-1,250 mg/day of calcium intake, ≤500 mg/day was suggestive of a modest increase in occurrence of adenoma (multivariable RR = 1.21, 95 % CI 0.90-1.61); there were also suggestions of an increased risk with >500 to ≤700 mg/day of calcium. The association between ≤500 mg/day of calcium intake and adenoma was stronger for multiple (RR = 2.27, 95 % CI 1.38, 3.72), large (≥1 cm) (RR = 2.01, 95 % CI 1.27, 3.21), and high-risk adenoma (≥1 cm or mention of villous histology/high-grade dysplasia) (RR = 1.76, 95 % CI 1.13, 2.72)"
• Lower dairy products and calcium intake is associated with adverse retinal vascular changes in older adults - Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2014 Jan 10 - "Higher consumption of dairy products and calcium is likely to play a role in maintaining optimal vascular health ... 2813 Blue Mountains Eye Study participants aged 50+ years had dietary data collected using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire, and serves of dairy consumption were calculated. Fundus photographs were taken and retinal vascular caliber measured using computer-assisted techniques and summarized ... participants in the lowest quintile of total dairy consumption compared to those in the remaining highest 4 quintiles had significantly wider retinal venular caliber, 227.2 versus 224.7 μm, respectively (multivariable-adjusted p = 0.002)"
• Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation in Postmenopausal Women - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Sep 24 - "At an ambulatory research center, 159 postmenopausal healthy white women participated in this double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel, longitudinal factorial study that began in December 2008 and ended in April 2011. It was 6 months in duration ... Supplementation of the diet with 1200 mg calcium/d reduces bone turnover markers, whereas supplementation with up to 100 μ g vitamin D3/d does not" - Note:  100 micrograms is 4,000 IU.
• Serum Calcium Concentration and Prostate Cancer Risk: A Multicenter Study - Nutr Cancer. 2013 Sep 20 - "This study sought to further evaluate the possible effects of serum calcium level on prostate cancer (PC) risk, with considering the age, body mass index (BMI), and sex steroid hormones. Using data from a prospective multicenter study, serum calcium concentration, as well as thorough demographic and medical characteristics, were determined in 194 cases with newly diagnosed, clinicopathologically confirmed PC and 317 controls, without any malignant disease, admitted to the same network of hospitals ... An increase of 1 mg/dl in serum calcium level was associated with a significant decrease in PC risk (OR = 0.52; 95% CI = 0.34-0.76). Our findings reveal the inverse association between serum total and ionized concentrations and PC risk, which supports the hypothesis that calcium may protect against PC" - Note:  Conflicts with some previous studies.
  • Calcium consumption may cause prostate cancer in Chinese, research suggests - Science Daily, 6/1/10 - "Results showed a 25 percent increased risk of prostate cancer when comparing those who consumed, on average, 659 mg vs. 211 mg of total calcium a day ... Major food sources of calcium in this population consisted of: vegetables (19.3 percent), dairy (17.3 percent), grain products (14.7 percent), soyfoods (11.8 percent), fruit (7.3 percent) and fish (6.2 percent). However, the researchers stress that there was no positive association with prostate cancer risk and any one particular food source ... Among men with less than average BMI (median BMI was 22.9 kg/m2), the researchers found a twofold increased risk of prostate cancer"
  • Too Much Calcium In Blood May Increase Risk Of Fatal Prostate Cancer - Science Daily, 9/3/08 - "Comparing men in the top third with men in the bottom third, we found a significantly increased hazard for fatal prostate cancer"
  • The Effect of High Calcium Levels on Prostate Cancer - Physician's Weekly, 8/13/07 - "the relative risk of prostate cancer for 2,000 mg/day or more of calcium intake was 1.63. Conversely, a 1.26 relative risk calculation was observed for ingestion of less than 1,000 mg/day of calcium"

  • Too much calcium may raise prostate cancer risk - Nutra USA, 11/15/05 - "men who consumed more than 2000mg of calcium per day nearly doubled their risk of developing prostate cancer"

• Long-term calcium supplementation may have adverse effects on serum cholesterol and carotid intima-media thickness in postmenopausal women: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial - Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Sep 18 - "To our knowledge, no studies have assessed whether the effects of calcium supplementation on blood lipids are similar between premenopausal and postmenopausal women ... A total of 190 premenopausal women (30-40 y old) and 182 postmenopausal women (50-60 y old) with dyslipidemia were given 800 mg Ca/d or a placebo for 2 y in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial ... Calcium supplementation in postmenopausal women with dyslipidemia increases serum total cholesterol concentrations and CIMT. In postmenopausal women with dyslipidemia, calcium supplements should be prescribed with caution"
• The association between daily calcium intake and sarcopenia in older, non-obese Korean adults: the fourth Korea national health and nutrition examination survey (KNHANES IV) 2009 - Endocr J. 2013 Jan 26 - "The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between daily calcium intake and sarcopenia. We analyzed data for older adults (over 60 years) from the fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) conducted in 2009 ... assessed using a nutrition survey that used a 24-hour recall method ... We found that daily calcium intake was negatively correlated with total body fat percentage and positively correlated with appendicular skeletal mass (p<0.001). Participants with sarcopenia appear to have significantly lower daily calcium intakes than participants without sarcopenia (p<0.001). The unadjusted prevalence of sarcopenia according to daily calcium intake tertiles were 6.3%, 4.3%, and 2.7% in tertiles 1, 2, and 3, respectively. After adjustment for age, sex, BMI, total energy intake, and lifestyle factors, compared with those in the lowest tertile of daily calcium intake, participants in the highest tertile had an odds ratio for sarcopenia of 0.295 (95% confidence interval, 0.087-0.768; p for trend = 0.014)"
• High Blood Calcium Levels May Indicate Ovarian Cancer - Science Daily, 1/23/13 - "women who were later diagnosed with ovarian cancer and women who later died of ovarian cancer had higher levels of calcium in blood than women who did not before their cancer diagnosis ... men whose calcium levels were higher than normal have an increased risk of fatal prostate cancer ... many ovarian cancers express increased levels of a protein, parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTRHrP), which is known to raise calcium levels in blood in many other cancers"
• Calcium supplementation and kidney stone risk in osteoporosis: a systematic literature review - Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2012 Nov 6 - "According to our results, calcium supplements in the treatment of osteoporosis alone or in combination with another type of treatment does not significantly increase the risk of nephrolithiasis or renal colic"
• Protective effects of low calcium intake and low calcium absorption vitamin D receptor genotype in the California Collaborative Prostate Cancer Study - Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2012 Nov 5 - "High calcium intake is consistently associated with increased prostate cancer risk in epidemiologic studies ... Among both Blacks and Whites, we observed a threshold for calcium intake (604 mg/day) below which prostate cancer risk declined sharply ... Our findings support the hypothesis that genetic determinants of calcium absorption influence prostate cancer risk and may contribute to racial disparities in prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates"
• Risk of endometrial cancer in relation to individual nutrients from diet and supplements - Public Health Nutr. 2011 Jul 14:1-13 - "endometrial cancer (EC) ... There existed little evidence of an association with EC for the majority of macronutrients and micronutrients examined. We observed a statistically significant increased risk associated with the highest, compared with the lowest, quartile of intake of dietary cholesterol (multivariable-adjusted OR = 1.51, 95 % CI 1.08, 2.11; P for trend = 0.02). Age-adjusted risk at the highest level of intake was significantly reduced for Ca from food sources (OR = 0.73, 95 % CI 0.54, 0.99) but was attenuated in the multivariable model (OR = 0.82, 95 % CI 0.59, 1.13). When intake from supplements was included in Ca intake, risk was significantly reduced by 28 % with higher Ca (multivariable-adjusted OR = 0.72, 95 % CI 0.51, 0.99, P for trend = 0.04). We also observed unexpected increased risks at limited levels of intakes of dietary soluble fibre, vitamin C, thiamin, vitamin B6 and lutein/zeaxanthin, with no evidence for linear trend"
• Vitamin or mineral supplement intake and the risk of head and neck cancer: Pooled analysis in the INHANCE consortium - Int J Cancer. 2011 Dec 15 - "To investigate the potential role of vitamin or mineral supplementation on the risk of head and neck cancer (HNC), we analyzed individual-level pooled data from 12 case-control studies ... A decreased risk of HNC was observed with ever use of vitamin C (OR=0.76, 95% CI=0.59-0.96) and with ever use of calcium supplement (OR=0.64, 95% CI=0.42-0.97). The inverse association with HNC risk was also observed for 10 or more years of vitamin C use (OR=0.72, 95% CI=0.54-0.97) and more than 365 tablets of cumulative calcium intake (OR=0.36, 95% CI=0.16-0.83), but linear trends were not observed for the frequency or duration of any supplement intake. We did not observe any strong associations between vitamin or mineral supplement intake and the risk of head and neck cancer"
• Serum Calcium Levels and Hypertension Among US Adults - J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). 2011 Oct;13(10):716-21 - "Elevated serum total calcium levels were positively associated with hypertension, independent of potential confounders including C-reactive protein, estimated glomerular filtration rate, serum albumin, 25(OH)D, and phosphorous. Compared with the lowest quartile of serum total calcium (referent category), the multivariable odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of hypertension was 1.49 (1.15-1.93) for the highest quartile (P=.005). This association persisted in subgroup analyses stratified by sex, age, and race-ethnicity. In contrast, serum ionized calcium levels were not associated with hypertension. Higher serum total calcium levels are positively associated with hypertension in a representative sample of US adults"
• Calcium intake and prostate cancer among African Americans: Effect modification by vitamin D receptor calcium absorption genotype - J Bone Miner Res. 2011 Sep 1 - "Compared to men in the lowest quartile of calcium intake, men in the highest quartile had an approximately two-fold increased risk of localized and advanced prostate cancer (odds ratio [OR]= 2.20, 95% confidence interval [CI]= 1.40, 3.46), with a significant dose-response. Poor absorbers of calcium (VDR Cdx2 GG genotype) had a significantly lower risk of advanced prostate cancer (OR= 0.41, 95% CI = 0.19, 0.90). The gene-calcium interaction was statistically significant (p = 0.03). Among men with calcium intake below the median (680 mg/day), carriers of the G allele had an approximately 50% decreased risk compared to men with the AA genotype. These findings suggest a link between prostate cancer risk and high intestinal absorption of calcium"
• Serum Calcium Level is Associated with Metabolic Syndrome in the General Population. FIN-D2D-study - Eur J Endocrinol. 2011 Jun 9 - "The mean age in men was 60.3+/-8.3 years and in women 59.8+/-8.5 years. The prevalence of MetS was 50.7 % in women and 55.8 % in men. The prevalence of MetS and its components, except HDL-cholesterol, increased in a linear trend with increasing serum calcium (p<0.001), even after adjustment for age, physical activity, alcohol, vitamin D intake, calcium intake and smoking. The threshold value for serum calcium for MetS was 2.50 mmol/L in this population. The association of MetS with total serum calcium was similar even after exlusion of patients treated with hypertensive drugs. The drug treatments for hypertension, dyslipidaemia and diabetes increased in a similar pattern. Conclusions: Serum calcium level is associated with MetS and its components, except HDL-cholesterol"
• Effect of a high-calcium energy-reduced diet on abdominal obesity and cardiometabolic risk factors in obese Brazilian subjects - Int J Clin Pract. 2010 Jul;64(8):1076-83 - "(i) a low-calcium diet (LCD; < 500 mg/day) or (ii) a HCD [1200-1300 mg/day ... 16 weeks of energy restriction, a significant reduction was observed in all anthropometric parameters, metabolic variables (except for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) and blood pressure levels in both the groups. Insulin was significantly reduced only in the HCD group. Subjects on the HCD compared with those on the LCD exhibited a greater reduction in waist circumference (p = 0.002), waist-to-hip ratio (p = 0.0001), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.04) and mean blood pressure (p = 0.03). Conclusions: Our study suggests that increased calcium intake may enhance the beneficial effects of energy restriction on abdominal obesity and blood pressure"
• Independent and joint effects of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and calcium on ovarian cancer risk: A prospective nested case-control study - Eur J Cancer. 2010 Jun 18 - "We observed a significant inverse association between calcium and ovarian cancer risk. Relative risk (estimated as odds ratio, OR) comparing the highest quartile to the lowest quartile was significantly decreased; 0.41 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.19-0.85, P-trend 0.004]. Even though a comparable association between 25-OHD and ovarian cancer did not reach statistical significance (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.26-1.24, P-trend 0.07), having sufficient (>75nmol/L) serum 25-OHD levels compared to insufficient serum 25-OHD was associated with a significantly decreased risk of ovarian cancer (OR 0.32; 95% CI 0.12-0.91, p-value 0.03)"
• Dietary Calcium and Magnesium Intake and Mortality: A Prospective Study of Men - Am J Epidemiol. 2010 Feb 19 - "Dietary calcium was associated with a statistically significant lower rate of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.63, 0.88; P(trend) < 0.001) and a nonsignificantly lower rate of CVD (HR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.58, 1.01; P(trend) = 0.064) but not cancer mortality (HR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.65, 1.17; P(trend) = 0.362) when the highest intake tertile (mean = 1,953 mg/day; standard deviation (SD), 334) was compared with the lowest (990 mg/day; SD, 187)"
• Vitamin D, Calcium Shown to Reduce Mortality - Medscape, 9/17/09 - "Vitamin D and calcium have been shown to help lower mortality risk among older people, but the benefits are not necessarily explained by a reduced risk for hip fracture ... When given with vitamin D, calcium reduced mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 0.88 [0.81–0.97]; P < .01), whereas studies involving vitamin D alone showed no significant reduction in mortality" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Serum calcium and the risk of prostate cancer - Cancer Causes Control. 2009 Apr 18 - "These data do not support the hypothesis that high serum calcium levels is a risk factor for prostate cancer. On the contrary, the data suggest that high serum levels of calcium in young overweight men may be a marker for a decreased risk of developing prostate cancer"
• Vitamin D, calcium combo may cut exercise-related stress fractures - Nutra USA, 4/25/08 - "randomly assigned the recruits to receive daily supplements of 2,000 mg of calcium and 800 IU of vitamin D, and the other group received a placebo ... Women receiving the vitamin-mineral combination were 20 per cent less likely to experience the fractures" - [Abstract]
• Calcium and vitamin d supplementation decreases incidence of stress fractures in female navy recruits - J Bone Miner Res. 2008 May;23(5):741-9 - "randomized them to 2000 mg calcium and 800 IU vitamin D/d or placebo ... found a 21% lower incidence of fractures in the supplemented versus the control group" - [Nutra USA]
• Dietary intake adequacy and cognitive function in free-living active elderly: A cross-sectional and short-term prospective study - Clin Nutr. 2007 Dec 12 - "mini-mental state examination (MMSE) ... subjects whose consumption of calcium was above the dietary reference intake had a significantly higher odds ratio (OR) of improving their MMSE (OR=5.41; 95% CI: 1.44-20.29)"
• The influence of calcium consumption on weight and fat following 9 months of exercise in men and women - J Am Coll Nutr. 2007 Aug;26(4):350-5 - "Average calcium consumption was 987 +/- 389 mg/day for men and 786 +/- 276 mg/day for women. Weight change over the 9 months was -4.6 +/- 4.6 kg for men and 0.2 +/- 3.3 kg for women ... Weight and fat weight loss as a result of nine months of moderate intensity exercise may be improved by increased calcium consumption in men but was not observed in women" - Note:  4.6 kg is 10.14 lbs.
• Increased calcium intake does not completely counteract the effects of increased phosphorus intake on bone: an acute dose-response study in healthy females - Br J Nutr. 2007 Oct 1;:1-8 - "When P intake was above current recommendations, increased Ca intake was beneficial for bone, as indicated by decreased S-PTH concentration and bone resorption. However, not even a high Ca intake could affect bone formation when P intake was excessive"
• Bone mineral density and bone markers in patients with a recent low-energy fracture: effect of 1 y of treatment with calcium and vitamin D - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jul;86(1):251-9 - "A 1-y intervention with calcium and vitamin D reduced bone turnover, significantly increased BMD in patients younger than 70 y, and decreased bone loss in older patients. The effect of treatment was related to physical performance"
• Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk: results of a randomized trial - Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jun;85(6):1586-91 - "Improving calcium and vitamin D nutritional status substantially reduces all-cancer risk in postmenopausal women"
• Calcium plus vitamin d supplementation and the risk of postmenopausal weight gain - Arch Intern Med. 2007 May 14;167(9):893-902 - "Calcium plus cholecalciferol supplementation has a small effect on the prevention of weight gain, which was observed primarily in women who reported inadequate calcium intakes"
• Two-year randomized controlled trial of vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and vitamin D3 plus calcium on the bone health of older women - J Bone Miner Res. 2007 Apr;22(4):509-19 - "women who took combined vitamin K and vitamin D plus calcium showed a significant and sustained increase in both BMD and BMC at the site of the ultradistal radius"
• The Effects of Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation on Blood Glucose and Markers of Inflammation in Non-diabetic Adults - Diabetes Care. 2007 Feb 2 - "Among participants with IFG at baseline those who took combined calcium-vitamin D supplements had a lower rise in FPG at 3 years compared to those on placebo"
• Prolonged effect of calcium supplementation on risk of colorectal adenomas in a randomized trial - J Natl Cancer Inst. 2007 Jan 17;99(2):129-36 - "placebo or 1200 mg of elemental calcium daily for 4 years ... During the first 5 years after randomized treatment ended, subjects in the calcium group still had a substantially and statistically significantly lower risk of any adenoma than those in the placebo group (31.5% versus 43.2%"
• Vitamin D and calcium intake in relation to type 2 diabetes in women - Diabetes Care. 2006 Mar;29(3):650-6 - "A combined daily intake of >1,200 mg calcium and >800 IU vitamin D was associated with a 33% lower risk of type 2 diabetes with RR of 0.67 (0.49-0.90) compared with an intake of <600 mg and 400 IU calcium and vitamin D, respectively"
• Effect of cholecalciferol plus calcium on falling in ambulatory older men and women: a 3-year randomized controlled trial - Arch Intern Med. 2006 Feb 27;166(4):424-30 - "Long-term dietary cholecalciferol-calcium supplementation reduces the odds of falling in ambulatory older women by 46%, and especially in less active women by 65%"
• Calcium plus vitamin D supplementation and the risk of fractures - N Engl J Med. 2006 Feb 16;354(7):669-83
• Calcium plus vitamin D supplementation and the risk of colorectal cancer - N Engl J Med. 2006 Feb 16;354(7):684-96
• Vitamin D and calcium deficits predispose for multiple chronic diseases - Eur J Clin Invest. 2005 May;35(5):290-304 - "calcium and vitamin D deficits increase the risk of malignancies, particularly of colon, breast and prostate gland, of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases (e.g. insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis), as well as of metabolic disorders (metabolic syndrome, hypertension)"
• Overweight Postmenopausal Women Lose Bone With Moderate Weight Reduction and 1 g/day Calcium Intake - J Bone Miner Res. 2005 Mar;20(3):455-63 - "Despite an intake of 1 g Ca/day, bone loss occurred at some sites because of weight loss. Calcium intake of 1.7 g/day will minimize bone loss during weight loss in postmenopausal overweight women"
• Effects of calcium supplementation on circulating lipids : potential pharmacoeconomic implications - Drugs Aging. 2004; 21(1): 7-17 - "calcium and lipids bind to one another in the gut, each interfering with the other's absorption. Calcium also causes malabsorption of bile acids, which is likely to contribute further to malabsorption of fat ... The largest randomised controlled trial of calcium effects on lipids was carried out in 223 healthy postmenopausal women, and found that low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) decreased 6.3% and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) increased by 7.3% at 1-year. The resultant 16.4% increase in HDL-C/LDL-C ratio would be predicted to reduce cardiovascular event rates by 20-30%, which is consistent with the available observational data"
• Dietary calcium lowers the age-related rise in blood pressure in the United States: the NHANES III survey - J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). 2003 Mar-Apr;5(2):122-6 - "higher calcium intake was associated with lower rates of age-related increases of systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure (p<0.001). If the calcium intake of the general population were to increase to above 1200 mg, the incidence of isolated systolic hypertension in the elderly might be decreased"
• Calcium intake, body composition, and lipoprotein-lipid concentrations in adults - Am J Clin Nutr. 2003 Jun;77(6):1448-52 - "divided into 3 groups on the basis of their daily calcium intake: groups A (< 600 mg), B (600-1000 mg), and C (> 1000 mg) ... In women, a significantly greater ratio of total to HDL cholesterol (P < 0.05) was observed in group A than in group C after correction for body fat mass and waist circumference. In women, body weight, percentage body fat, fat mass, body mass index, waist circumference, and total abdominal adipose tissue area measured by computed tomography were significantly greater (P < 0.05) in group A than in groups B and C, even after adjustments for confounding variables. Comparable trends were observed in men, but not after adjustment for the same covariates. CONCLUSION: A low daily calcium intake is associated with greater adiposity, particularly in women. In both sexes, a high calcium intake is associated with a plasma lipoprotein-lipid profile predictive of a lower risk of coronary heart disease risk compared with a low calcium intake"
• Calcium, vitamin D, milk consumption, and hip fractures: a prospective study among postmenopausal women - Am. J. of Clin. Nutr., 2/03 - "Women consuming 12.5 µg vitamin D/d from food plus supplements had a 37% lower risk of hip fracture (RR = 0.63; 95% CI: 0.42, 0.94) than did women consuming < 3.5 µg/d. Total calcium intake was not associated with hip fracture risk (RR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.68, 1.34 for 1200 compared with < 600 mg/d). Milk consumption was also not associated with a lower risk of hip fracture (P for trend = 0.21)"
• Calcium, vitamin D, dairy products, and risk of colorectal cancer in the cancer prevention study II nutrition cohort - Cancer Causes Control 2003 Feb;14(1):1-12 - "Total calcium intake (from diet and supplements) was associated with marginally lower colorectal cancer risk in men and women ... The association was strongest for calcium from supplements ... Total vitamin D intake (from diet and multivitamins) was also inversely associated with risk of colorectal cancer, particularly among men"
• Calcium supplementation prevents seasonal bone loss and changes in biochemical markers of bone turnover in elderly New England women: a randomized placebo-controlled trial - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1998 Nov;83(11):3817-25
• Dietary protein intake and urinary excretion of calcium: a cross-sectional study in a healthy Japanese population - Am J Clin Nutr. 1998 Mar;67(3):438-44 - "Our findings suggest that excess protein, especially that rich in sulfur-containing amino acids, in habitual diets may augment calcium excretion in the urine, at least in the elderly."