- A new study of more than 36,000 American adults suggests that too much dietary calcium intake in evening meals could lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
- Experts say that circadian rhythms help regulate the absorption of calcium, and daylight hours are generally the best for that process.
- But too much calcium in general, especially from supplements, can lead to issues that contribute to cardiovascular problems.
Reducing the intake of dietary calcium at dinner and instead increasing it at breakfast could lead to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, a new study suggests.
The study, published in
The study participants were 17,456 males, 18,708 females, and 4,040 cardiovascular disease patients; their calcium intake from morning and evening meals was divided into five different quadrants.
Excluded from the study were people under 20 years old, pregnant women, anyone using calcium supplements, people who consumed more than 4,500 kilocalories (kcal) a day, and those with incomplete data.
Ultimately, researchers found, spreading the intake of calcium over the two meals was the best for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. But substituting a 5% calcium intake from dinner with that at breakfast pulled that risk down 6% overall.
Still, the authors write, there are other factors that are either unobserved or unknown that could affect the ultimate results, and that cohorts of other races and countries need to be examined for any discrepancies or similarities.
“Currently, the evidence for the relationship between dietary calcium intake and [cardiovascular disease] risk is insufficient and controversial,” the study authors wrote, while noting that this was the first such study to examine the links between calcium consumption at breakfast/dinner and cardiovascular disease.
“Studies have…
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