Strong Bones Equals Weak Heart

Adequate calcium intake is an important nutritional factor for skeletal health. Calcium (when taken with adequate Vitamin D) prevents bone loss and decreases the risk of fractures and associated morbidity and mortality. Most adults require 1000 mg of calcium daily. (Children and postmenopausal women require slightly more.) For decades, physicians and pharmacists have been advocating calcium supplementation to ensure adequate intake for patients, particularly postmenopausal women, owing to a belief that calcium supplementation offered significant benefits without many adverse consequences. Now, a new meta-analysis in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) claims that calcium supplementation, in fact, leads to an increased risk for cardiovascular events.