More the dietary calcium, lower the heart risk

Washington D.C.: Older women can lower their risk for cardiovascular disease with higher calcium intake, according to a recent study.

The research from South Korea suggests that in older people, higher dietary calcium intake may lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, but not of stroke and fracture.

Lead author Sung Hye Kong from Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul, South Korea said that the role of dietary calcium intake in cardiovascular disease, stroke and fracture is controversial. "Moreover, participants in previous studies were from populations that had calcium-rich diets. We aimed to evaluate whether high dietary calcium intake increases the risk of CVD, stroke and fracture in a population with low calcium intake."

Kong and colleagues conducted their research among individuals in Korea's ongoing prospective community-based Ansung and Ansan Cohort Study that began in 2001. Of the 4,589 men and 5,042 women in the cohort study's database who were 40 years of age and above at baseline and were followed up for an average of 13 years, the authors performed their analyses in 2,199 men and 2,704 women over 50 years of age without previous cardiovascular disease and stroke.

In older women in this population with low dietary calcium intake, higher dietary calcium intake was significantly associated with decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, but not significantly associated with risk of stroke and fracture.

The results will be presented in a poster Saturday, April 2, at ENDO 2016, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, in Boston.