Calcium (alone) does not reduce risk of bone fracture

Overview

Just supplementing with Calcium without the cofactors
such as Vitamin D, Magnesium, Vitamin K2, and Boron, appears to INCREASE rather than decrease fractures of some bone
and cause many other health problems (Cardiovascular, Kidney stones, prostate cancer, etc)

The following 2010 paper identified the problems with the Calcium and bone fracture studies
Many other studies shown at the bottom of this page support his thesis.
PDF is attached at bottom of this page
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Evidence that calcium supplements reduce fracture risk is lacking - Jan 2010

Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2010 Jan;5 Suppl 1:S3-11.
Seeman E. ( 28 other references to Seeman in VitaminDWiki Feb 2012)
Department of Endocrinology, Centaur Building, Repatriation Campus, Austin Health, Heidelberg 3081, Melbourne, Australia. egos at unimelb.edu.au

Credible evidence that calcium supplements reduce the risk of vertebral, nonvertebral, or hip fractures is lacking.

Flaws in study design and execution such as inclusion of calcium-replete individuals, high dropout rates, and poor compliance preclude testing the hypothesis that calcium deficiency increases fracture rates or that calcium supplements reduce them.
Intent-to-treat analyses of individual trials have failed to detect antifracture efficacy.

Post hoc analyses of subgroups with a low calcium intake and per-protocol analyses of compliers have reported fewer fractures in the supplemented groups.
However, this may be the result of confounding by violation of randomization; compliers to placebo have a lower morbidity and mortality than noncompliers.

Higher hip fracture rates and cardiac mortality in patients receiving calcium supplements, as reported in some studies, may also be due to factors other than supplementation.

Hypothesis testing requires that a cohort be stratified into calcium-deficient and calcium-replete groups, with each person randomized to a supplement or placebo.
This design quantifies the risk of fracture attributable to calcium deficiency and any benefit that supplementation confers in the calcium-deficient and calcium-replete groups. To regard a calcium-deficient arm as unethical begs the question.

Consensus statements that support the widespread use of calcium are opinion-based; they accept claims of beneficial effects despite flaws in study design, execution, and analysis; and they reject reported adverse effects because of them.

Until well designed, well executed, and well analyzed studies demonstrate a net benefit in morbidity, mortality, and cost, recommendations supporting the widespread use of calcium supplementation remain belief-based and not evidence-based.

PDF is attached at bottom of this page

PMID: 20089500

Bone remodeling REDUCED until Calcium stopped

Calcium INCREASED hip fracture

Calcium INCREASED Heart Problems

CLICK HERE for PDF
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See also VitaminDWiki

• Overview Fractures and VITAMIN D
• single high dose vitamin D not help bone loss - Feb 2012.pdf file
• All items in Bone Health and Vitamin D 311 items along with related searches__
• Bone Health and vitamin D book - 2011
• Vitamin D is the first of three ways to make unbreakable bones – Oct 2011
• Calcium (alone) does not reduce risk of bone fracture
• Overview Osteoporosis and vitamin D
• Vitamin D: an essential component for skeletal health – Dec 2011 by Wimalawansa
• Vitamin K and Vitamin D
  Includes problems with excess Calcium at end of page

See also Web

• High Amounts of Calcium Don't Lower Bone Fracture Risk My Health News Daily May 2011
  based on questionnaire
• Section 3: Calcium: Too Much of a Good Thing? HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH NUTRITION ROUNDTABLE
  Surprisingly, he found that countries with low intakes of calcium actually had lower rates of hip fracture and countries with high intakes of calcium had higher rates of fracture.
  For men >68, the higher rate of calcium intake resulted in a 7X increase in prostate cancer risk.
• Calcium for Bone Health–Not What You Thought April 2011
  Since 1975, 136 trials have explored calcium’s effects on osteoporotic fracture risk.
  Two-thirds of these studies show that high calcium intake yields no reduction in the number of fractures
  Another Harvard team analyzed seven trials that followed 170,991 women for several years and found “no association between total calcium intake and [reduced] hip fracture risk.”
• Extra calcium won't lower bone fracture risk, ladies MSNBC May 2011
• How Too Much Calcium Can Break Your Bones Jan 2012
  According to two meta-analyses published in the British Journal of Medicine last year, 500 mg of supplemental elemental calcium a day increases the risk of heart attack by at least 24%!
• Excessive Calcium Causes Osteoporosis 2000 study
• Breast Cancer and Heart Attacks: A Deadly Side Effect of Calcium Supplements? Mercola Jan 2012- where this main article was sited
  Robert Thompson, M.D. wrote a book on this subject called The Calcium Lie (2008), which explains that bone is comprised of at least a dozen minerals, and the exclusive focus on calcium supplementation is likely to worsen bone density and actually increase your risk for osteoporosis