- Research suggests the use of calcium and vitamin D supplements may reduce the risk of cancer deaths in postmenopausal women but may also increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
- Calcium and vitamin D supplements are often recommended for postmenopausal women to prevent bone loss.
- Experts say the research should be interpreted with caution and women should discuss with their doctor whether they should take supplements.
Use of calcium and vitamin D supplements in women who are postmenopausal may reduce the risk of death from cancer, but they may also increase risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
That’s according to research published today in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, which reports that women who took calcium and vitamin D supplements had a 7% lower risk of death from cancer but a 6% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
“Our study also found an 11% lower risk for total cancer, including 31% and 19% lower incidences of colorectal cancer and invasive breast cancer,” the study authors wrote.
To reach their findings, the researchers from the University of Arizona conducted a follow-up analysis to the largest ever randomized trial of calcium and vitamin D supplementation, which examined the health outcomes of those supplements on more than 36,000 postmenopausal women.
However, the study authors note that due to the way the study was undertaken, the results should be interpreted carefully.
“Given the study design, we could not disentangle the added benefit or harms of supplementation with calcium and vitamin D in combination versus vitamin D alone, a topic worthy of future study,” they wrote.
Dr. Howard Hodis, an internal medicine specialist with Keck Medicine of USC in California who was not involved in the study, said there could be a number of factors that might explain a reduction in cancer risk among the group studied.
“It’s important to understand that this is a follow-up that’s done after the trial ended. So…
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