calcium decreases human mortality

Doug Skrecky (oberon@vcn.bc.ca)
Sat, 21 Aug 1999 09:12:28 -0700 (PDT)

Authors
Bostick RM. Kushi LH. Wu Y. Meyer KA. Sellers TA. Folsom AR. Institution
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA.
Title
Relation of calcium, vitamin D, and dairy food intake to ischemic heart disease mortality among postmenopausal women.
Source
American Journal of Epidemiology. 149(2):151-61, 1999 Jan 15. Abstract
To investigate whether greater intakes of calcium, vitamin D, or milk products may protect against ischemic heart disease mortality, the authors analyzed data from a prospective cohort study of 34,486 postmenopausal Iowa women 55-69 years old and without a history of ischemic heart disease who completed a dietary questionnaire in

  1. Through 1994, 387 deaths due to ischemic heart disease were documented
    (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, codes 410-414,
    429.2). The multivariate-adjusted relative risks for the highest versus the lowest quartiles of total calcium, vitamin D, and milk product intakes were as follows: 0.67 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.47-0.94; p for trend = 0.09) for calcium, 1.41 (95% CI 0.93-2.15; p for trend = 0.12) for vitamin D, and 0.94 (95% CI 0.66-1.35; p for trend = 0.68) for milk products. The relative risk was 0.63 (95% CI 0.40-0.98) for high dietary calcium but no supplemental calcium intake and 0.66
    (95% CI 0.36-1.23) for high supplemental calcium but low dietary calcium
    intake. These results suggest that a higher intake of calcium, but not of vitamin D or milk products, is associated with reduced ischemic heart disease mortality in postmenopausal women, and reduced risk may be achievable whether the higher intake of calcium is attained by diet, supplements, or both.