ASMI says calcium is okay
May 29, 2012
THE Australian Self-Medication
Industry has come out swinging in
defence of calcium supplements in
the face of a damning new study
published in the journal Heart.
The Swiss study, which looked at
data from 24,000 people aged
between 35 and 64 found that people
who take calcium supplements are
86% more likely to have a heart
attack than people who do not.
Commenting on the findings, ASMI
said the study contained a number
of deficiencies “which place a
question over the strength and
validity of its conclusions”.
According to ASMI’s Regulatory
and Scientific Affairs Director,
Steven Scarff, the study was flawed
in that it involved a single initial
survey of diet and supplement
intake, followed by an assessment
of cardiovascular outcomes an
average of 10 years later.
“This gap provides a considerable
period of uncharted information
about diet and behaviours which
almost certainly impacted the
results,” he said.
“The design of the survey also
means that known risk factors for
cardiovascular disease (such as high
blood pressure and high cholesterol)
were not equally distributed
across the study groups,” he added.
Further limitations of the study,
according to Scarff included the
fact that many subjects who took
supplements did not record what
they were taking, and even those
who did record the information,
did not always advise the dose.
Moving to reassure consumers
and industry members about the
safety of calcium supplements,
ASMI said that there was good
evidence that calcium supplements
reduced the risk of fractures and
hence played a useful role in the
treatment of osteoporosis.
The industry body also cited a
recent study which found that
calcium, and calcium in
combination with Vitamin D, was
associated with a 12% reduction in
fractures of all types including hip,
vertebrae and wrist.
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