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Women have been commonly advised to ensure they get enough calcium and vitamin D as they age, but there have also been warnings over negative cardiovascular side effects.
As part of a study with more than 160,000 participants, Judith Hsia tried to tackle concerns about negative health effects of supplement vitamins and minerals.
"It doesn't get any bigger than this," said Hsia about the size of the research pool. Hsia is a cardiologist at GW Hospital who is the principal investigator for the Women's Health Initiative, a 15-year national health study researching disease prevention in postmenopausal women.
The work is unique, as it is the largest and longest lasting study ever to be conducted concerning the effects of calcium supplementation on the heart and bones. Focusing on a subgroup of 36,282 of 161,000 WHI participants aged 50 to 79, the study sought to determine if calcium increased or decreased cardiovascular problems.
In past studies, calcium had been found to lower blood pressure and help women maintain weight control, thus decreasing risk factors of heart disease. On the other hand, it was also well known that calcium build-up in the coronary arteries, called calcification, could lead to heart disease.
In Hsia's study, which spanned seven years, half the subgroup was assigned to take 500 mg of calcium carbonate along with vitamin D, and the other half was assigned a placebo. The results of the study affirmed that women who took more calcium and vitamin D supplements did not increase their risk for heart disease or strokes. However, the study did not prove that calcium supplementation decreased the risk of heart disease either.
"The results of the study should be reassuring to women because there was no evidence to support that calcium and vitamin D supplements would increase risk of heart disease," Hsia said.
