This article discusses a study done by “The British Medical Journal” that dealt with effects of taking calcium supplements on the heart. They found that the people taking the calcium supplements had a 30 percent increase in heart attack compared to those who did not take the supplement. These results were not dependent of the sex or age of the individuals. I thought this article was important because growing up I was taught that taking supplements of calcium can only help your body. However, this research states that the calcium supplements might help your bones but can also increase your risk of heart attack.
This article also mentions a study conducted in 2008 that took 1,471 postmenopausal women and had them take a total of 1,000 mg of calcium a day in multiple doses. This study contradicted most other studies that stated that the reason why calcium supplement were so beneficial for our heart was because it helped with lowering the bad cholesterol or LDL and raising good cholesterol or HDL. However, through the help of a CT scan researchers in this study can conclude that higher doses of calcium supplements implies more disease of the arteries. The problem with the calcium supplements is that they cause an acute increase in the blood calcium levels much more rapidly than from food. This rapid increase in blood calcium levels is believed to be the cause of the artery damages.
Therefore, this article really pushes eating calcium rich foods versus calcium supplements. In the article is said and I quote, “your food is your medicine”. I choose this article because it supports the idea that we should retain most of our daily calcium needs from food, which I myself am a strong believer of. This article also provides a list of recommended foods that have contain higher levels of calcium. The list ranges from dark-green leafy vegetables to nuts and seeds. Also I appreciated this article because it advocated consuming less animal foods and less salty foods.
As a vegan, I loved this article because it shows that you don’t have to eat tons of meat or dairy products to meet our daily recommendation of calcium, and further be healthy. This is supported in the article when it stated a study conducted in 1990 by Yale that looked at fracture rates in 16 countries around the world. They found that people in countries with the lowest intake of meat, eggs, fish and dairy products also had the lowest fracture risk. The main message I want you take from this article is that vegetables are essential and so beneficial to our bodies. So I am asking you to please try to retain the recommended calcium intake of 1000mg a day naturally, with REAL FOOD!
I find that this article promotes diets like vegetarian and vegan since it saying the animal fat and real salty foods along with the calcium in pill form can contribute to greater risk of heart attack. Why is that when calcium comes in the version of food it is not such a threat to the cardiovascular system? Do the organs do a good job of filtering out calcium and sending it directly to where it is need? Versus taking supplements that are always giving you an overdose of calcium and increasing the blood calcium level too much.
ReplyDeleteI think too much calcium also causes problems in the renal system.
The food news is, that like you are saying, there are plenty of foods in all of the food pyramind categories that contain calcium.
You just have to be aware that some foods can block the absorption of calcium if they are high in phosphorus: rhubarb, Swiss chard, spinach, beet greens, cocoa, soybeans, cashews and kale.
I really enjoyed reading your post about this article on calcium. I was wondering if the studies had the subjects take the calcium supplements with meals or on their own in the morning or evening. My topic is also calcium and I have read a few articles that stress the importance of food with the supplementation. I enjoyed how you talked about the mechanism for which these heart problems may stem. I also am a firm believer in getting all vitamins and minerals from food (and the sun!).
ReplyDeleteVery true. I do agree that many of these supplements do have side effects, usually due to the fact that people are overdosing themselves without knowing it. Also the renal failure would make sense because all of the let over substance of the body must filtered through the blood within the renal system. The kidneys are responsible for filtering the blood with the help of the glomerulus, and a over dose of calcium could in fact cause a log jam in the glomerulus. I also thought the comment about the phosphorus was really interesting. Thanks for the interest in the article i posted.
ReplyDeleteDiana,
ReplyDeleteThe article did have them take the pills throughout the day around the time they consumed food. Thanks for reiterating the importance of eating food while taking supplements because it is essential to actual absorb these minerals or vitamins.
so much left over substance that must be filtered out. so true. i can't imagine that potent dose is good for the system. must be hard on the kidneys. isn't that where kidney stones originate? too much salt/calcium and it builds up.?? no bueno.
ReplyDeleteWell after doing some research on kidney stones they can apparently be a cause of multiple things but the most common is in fact crystallized calcium. so i guess we learn something new everyday. Thanks for the question
ReplyDelete