Calcium supplements may increase the risk of a heart attack in older women
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Calcium pills 'raise heart risk'
Calcium supplements may increase the risk of a heart attack in older women, New Zealand research suggests.
The supplements are often prescribed to postmenopausal women to help counter loss of bone density.
Previous research suggested they might also protect against vascular disease by cutting blood cholesterol levels.
However, the latest British Medical Journal study found the opposite to be true, although UK experts warned women not to stop taking medication.
Anyone who has been advised by their doctor to take calcium supplements to protect their bones should not stop doing so in light of this study alone without medical advice
Judy O'Sullivan
British Heart Foundation
The University of Auckland team followed 1,471 healthy postmenopausal women for five years.
Each woman either took a daily calcium supplement, or a dummy pill.
Heart attacks were more common in the group who took the supplements.
After a careful analysis of the data, the researchers confirmed 36 heart attacks in 31 women who took the supplements, compared with 22 heart attacks in 21 women who took the placebo.
Rates of stroke and sudden death were also higher in the supplement group - although not conclusively.
Hardening vessels
The researchers said the supplements may raise the risk of a heart attack by accelerating hardening of the blood vessels.
Coronary Calcification Predicts Future
Heart Attacks and Coronary Death.
Cholesterol Not Found To Be A Significant Risk Factor
By Bill Sardi
A striking report just published in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates the accumulation of calcium in coronary arteries, and not cholesterol, more accurately predicts a future heart attack or other heart trouble, far more than cholesterol or other standard risk factors.
This report gives evidence of a major misdirection by modern medicine � the creation of cholesterol phobia in the population at large. Prior studies show use of cholesterol-lowering drugs does not reduce mortality rates for coronary artery disease. This report follows a front-page report in Business Week Magazine declaring cholesterol-lowering drugs to be of marginal value.
The study involved 6722 men and women, ~age 60, who were studied for a period of 3.8 years (median). None had coronary artery disease at the beginning of the study. Subjects who experienced an adverse coronary event (heart attack, angina, placement of a stent, coronary death) were more likely to be taking cholesterol-lowering drugs (~28%) than those who did not experience such an event (~16%). Furthermore, subjects who experienced a heart attack or angina had about the same total cholesterol (~199) as subjects who did not (~194). Cholesterol barely met statistical significance whereas calcium was a highly predictive factor.
Traditionally-used risk factors, such as C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation), triglycerides, HDL cholesterol and greater body mass, were not predictive for a future coronary artery event.
Among subjects whose coronary artery calcium score was zero, their risk for any adverse coronary event was only about one-half of 1% (0.0044), or less than 1 in 200, whereas those with a coronary calcium score over 300, about 8.0% experienced an adverse event involving coronary arteries (0.0804), or about 8 in 100, an 18-fold difference (1800%!), over the 3.8 year period.
This study shows the risk for a future heart attack is nil for those with a calcium arterial score of zero. This data helps to explain why hundreds of thousands of Americans experience a sudden-death heart attack with low-to-normal cholesterol. Most heart attacks emanate in the four coronary arteries that supply the heart with oxygenated blood. About 50% of arterial plaque is calcium and only 3% is cholesterol.
Arterial calcium can be measured by use of a CT scan (called an Agatston score, for Dr. Arthur Agatston, South Beach Miami, Florida cardiologist). About 70% of white males, 52% of black males, 57% of Hispanic males and 59% of Chinese males, have coronary calcium scores greater than zero. The calcium arterial scores for women are about half that of males owing to the fact they donate calcium to their offspring during pregnancy and lactation and control calcium via estrogen throughout their fertile years.
Calcium begins to accumulate in coronary arteries in males as soon as full growth is achieved, around age 18. Women begin to accumulate calcium in their arteries with the onset of menopause or early hysterectomy. It was recently reported that postmenopausal women who take calcium supplements increase their risk for a heart attack by about 45%. [British Medical Journal 2008 Feb 2; 336 (7638): 262-6]
In the early 1990s British cardiologist Stephen Seely noted that countries which consume that highest amount of calcium (New Zealand, Ireland, North America, Scandinavian countries), mostly from dairy products, have the highest rates of cardiovascular disease. [International Journal Cardiology 1991 Nov; 33(2):191-8]
Sixty-four percent (64%) of subjects who experienced any coronary event were current or former smokers compared to about 50% of those who did not experience a heart attack or other adverse event. [Coronary Calcium as a Predictor of Coronary Events in Four Racial or Ethnic Groups, New England Journal of Medicine 358: 1336-45, March 27, 2008]
In the early 1990s British cardiologist Stephen Seely noted that countries which consume that highest amount of calcium (New Zealand, Ireland, North America, Scandinavian countries), mostly from dairy products, have the highest rates of cardiovascular disease. [International Journal Cardiology 1991 Nov; 33(2):191-8]
30 min brisk exercize, thrice per week, halves female calcification
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While exercise has been shown to be effective in reducing atherosclerosis in men, the impact of exercise on this disease in women has been unclear. Johns Hopkins researchers thus studied 1,801 asymptomatic women who had risk factors for atherosclerosis, including a family history, hypertension, diabetes, or obesity. Participants were classified as participating in no activity, or low or high levels of moderate physical activity, such as brisk walking, running or other recreational activity. Low levels were classified as less than 30 minutes, two to three time per week. High levels were defined as 30 minutes or more, two to three times per week. The researchers then measured levels of coronary artery calcification, a marker for the disease, and analyzed them with respect to exercise.
After controlling for other CHD risk factors, doctors found that women who were 65 or older had almost 50 percent less calcification if they fell into the high category, compared to those who fell into the low category or didn't exercise at all. Women 45 to 64 years of age who engaged in high levels of moderate activity had 33 percent less calcification than women of the same age who exercised less or not at all.
High Dose Of Vit K May Reduce Previous Calcification
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"In contrast," the researcher states "high-vitamin K intake (both K1 and K2) not only blocked the progress of further calcium accumulation but also led to a greater than 37 per cent reduction of previously accumulated arterial calcium precipitates within six weeks."
The Japanese long ago recognized the power of vitamin K2 to maintain or restore bone health. In certain regions of Japan, a staple dish called natto or fermented soybean, frequently eaten several times a week, is uniquely rich in vitamin K2. Recent scientific examination has pinpointed vitamin K2, and in particular vitamin K2 as menaquinone-7 (MK-7), as the active ingredient in this popular eastern Japanese dish, as having a supportive effect on bone quality during osteoporosis treatment.5
People living in the Japanese regions where this dish is eaten have several-fold greater blood levels of vitamin K2 (MK-7), accompanied by less osteoporosis and bone fractures.6
These findings are supported by clinical trials, in which vitamin K2 has been shown to successfully reduce the incidence of bone fractures. A two-year Japanese study found that vitamin K2 (MK-4) reduced the incidence of vertebral (spine) fractures by 52% in 120 patients with osteoporosis, compared with patients who did not receive this nutrient.7 The high dose used in this trial�as with most studies examining vitamin K2�s effect on bone density�was 45 mg/day, a prescription dose used in Japan to treat osteo-porosis that is unavailable in the US. As you will read later, lower doses of K2 found in dietary supplements appear to also provide significant benefits.
A definitive connection between vitamin K2 levels and heart disease, in terms of a large-scale, well-controlled clinical trial, was first described in 2004 in the Rotterdam Heart Study�a Dutch trial that tracked 4,800 participants for seven years.1 The study revealed that participants who ingested the greatest quantities of vitamin K2 in their diet experienced a 57% reduction in death from heart disease than people who ingested the least. The same relationship did not hold for vitamin K1. Unfortunately, in this study MK-4 and MK-7 intake and levels were not separately analyzed but were grouped together, along with other MK categories such as MK-8 and MK-9.
Higher intakes of vitamin K2 also corresponded to less calcium deposition in the aorta (an indirect measure of atherosclerosis), whereas participants who ingested less K2 were more likely to show moderate or severe calcification. The lowest risk of heart attack and aortic calcification was seen in participants who included more than 32.7 mcg a day of vitamin K2 in their diet.1
The size and quality of the Rotterdam Heart Study gave credibility to the powerful association between vitamin K2 dietary intake and heart disease and suggests that vitamin K2 may confer cardiovascular benefits by inhibiting arterial calcification.
Calcium supplements may increase the risk of a heart attack in older women
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