All Posts Tagged With: "vascular dissue"

Please stop patients from using massive doses of calcium now. The patients all have too much calcium in vascular tissue and now we have data showing that giving calcium is increasing heart disease. And, if possible, try to always administer calcium supplementation with EQUAL AMOUNTS of MAGNESIUM, as I have been teaching for over 20 years now.

Also please realize I use calcium in well over 90 % of my patients. It is in BAM, my multiple called Beyond Any Multiple. I usually never use more than 500 mg of calcium a day for my long-term patients, as that is all most will need since that is the amount we need to offset the excess of phosphorus over calcium in the American diet. This amount will help lower the tendency for the body to develop secondary hyperparathyroidism, which is how the body responds to a chronic dietary intake of more phosphorus than calcium.

Results 15 trials were eligible for inclusion, five with patient level data (8151 participants, median follow-up 3.6 years, interquartile range 2.7-4.3 years) and 11 with trial level data (11 921 participants, mean duration 4.0 years). In the five studies contributing patient level data, 143 people allocated to calcium had a myocardial infarction compared with 111 allocated to placebo (hazard ratio 1.31, 95% confidence interval 1.02 to 1.67, P=0.035). Non-significant increases occurred in the incidence of stroke (1.20, 0.96 to 1.50, P=0.11), the composite end point of myocardial infarction, stroke, or sudden death (1.18, 1.00 to 1.39, P=0.057), and death (1.09, 0.96 to 1.23, P=0.18). The meta-analysis of trial level data showed similar results: 296 people had a myocardial infarction (166 allocated to calcium, 130 to placebo), with an increased incidence of myocardial infarction in those allocated to calcium (pooled relative risk 1.27, 95% confidence interval 1.01 to 1.59, P=0.038). 

Conclusions Calcium supplements (without coadministered vitamin D) are associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction. As calcium supplements are widely used these modest increases in risk of cardiovascular disease might translate into a large burden of disease in the population. A reassessment of the role of calcium supplements in the management of osteoporosis is warranted.