Most people should get all the vitamins and minerals they need via food but some people choose to take supplements too. Barring underlying health conditions and strict dietary preferences, it is generally advised to steer clear of supplementation. That’s because the benefits of taking supplements are mixed and in some cases cancelled out by the risks.
According to Professor Tim Spector, co-founder of the ZOE Covid Study app and Professor of Epidemiology at King’s College London, taking calcium supplements can cause cardiovascular problems.
The professor took to Twitter to comment on the findings of a new study, which adds to the existing body of evidence warning against calcium supplementation.
He wrote: “Calcium supplements are bad for your heart and blood vessels- yet more evidence from longitudinal studies that calcium given by tablet is harmful and should be stopped even if given with Vitamin D.”
Prof Spector was referring to a study published in the BMJ entitled “Supplemental calcium and vitamin D and long-term mortality in aortic stenosis”.
The study sought to identify the associations between supplemental calcium and vitamin D with mortality and progression of aortic stenosis.
Aortic valve stenosis — or aortic stenosis — occurs when the heart’s aortic valve narrows.
The valve doesn’t open fully, which reduces or blocks blood flow from your heart into the main artery to your body (aorta) and to the rest of your body.
In this retrospective longitudinal study, patients aged 60 and above with mild-moderate aortic stenosis were selected from the Cleveland Clinic Echocardiography Database from 2008 to 2016 and followed until 2018.
Groups were stratified into no supplementation, supplementation with vitamin D alone and supplementation with calcium and vitamin D.
What the researchers found
Calcium and vitamin D supplementation was associated with a significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular (CV) mortality and aortic valve replacement (AVR).
The researchers concluded: “Supplemental calcium with or without vitamin D is associated with lower survival and greater AVR in elderly patients with mild-moderate AS.”
What other studies say
There is some evidence that calcium supplements can increase the risk of heart attacks.
The Mayo Clinic cited a recent analysis of peer-reviewed, double-blind studies which concluded that calcium supplements increased the risk of heart disease, particularly in healthy, postmenopausal women.
The health body points out that other studies have said calcium supplements don’t increase the risk.
“In general, more research is needed before doctors know how calcium supplements affect your overall heart attack risk.”
How to top up calcium in your diet
Calcium can be found in the following foods:
- Milk, cheese and other dairy foods
- Green leafy vegetables – such as curly kale, okra but not spinach (spinach does contain high levels of calcium but the body cannot digest it all)
- Soya drinks with added calcium
- Bread and anything made with fortified flour
- Fish where you eat the bones – such as sardines and pilchards.
