According to a new study conducted by scientists from New Zealand, the intake of dietary supplements with calcium increases the risk of heart disease, especially in older women.

The authors of the paper believe that doctors may have to reconsider their ideas about the treatment of osteoporosis.

Calcium is often prescribed to women after menopause in order to preserve bone health. Sometimes calcium is combined with vitamin D, but it is still not clear how these drugs act on the heart.

The largest study, The Women's Health Initiative (36,000 women), failed to detect the effects of calcium and vitamin D on the cardiovascular system, but many women who participated in this study had already taken calcium earlier, which could mask the side effects.

Ian Reid and his colleagues from the University of Auckland re-analyzed the "The Women's Health Initiative" to get more accurate results.

They included in their analysis only 16,718 women who did not take calcium at the time of the study, and then started taking calcium with vitamin D. In these women, the risk of cardiovascular disease, especially heart attacks, was indeed higher. Women who had already taken calcium before starting the study and started taking vitamin D did not have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The authors suggest that the heart is affected by a sharp change in the level of calcium in the blood, rather than the total amount of calcium taken. A high level of calcium in the blood can cause compaction of the walls of the arteries (calcification), which predisposes to cardiovascular disease.

After analyzing the data of 13 more studies (29,000 in total), the researchers also found a link between the intake of calcium and vitamin D and the risk of heart attack and stroke. According to the authors, all these data should encourage doctors to reconsider the principles of prescribing these drugs to older people.

However, not all experts agree with this opinion: other experts believe that at the moment there is not enough data to confirm or disprove this theory.

News. Gradusnik. En.

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