Calcium supplementation postmenopause

Calcium supplementation of about 1000mg daily has a significant preventative effect on bone loss in postmenopausal women for at least 4 years, a  by Professor B.E. Christopher Nordin concludes. The consultant physician from the Royal Adelaide Hospital reviewed 32 controlled trials which provided annual percentage changes in bone mass or density in calcium treated subjects compared with controls. He found that the average of the mean rates of change in bone mass or density was -1.07% per year in the controls and -0.27% in the treated subjects. The doses of calcium did not influence the outcome as long as it was not less than 700mg, but total intake over 1,350mg were significantly more effective than total intakes below 1,150mg. “This suggests a requirement falling between these figures, which are close to the current calcium allowance for postmenopausal women derived from balance studies,” he said. The effect of the calcium dosing regimen suggested that three times a day was optimal, but when the analysis was applied to all sites there was little difference between the frequencies of dosage. Writing in Osteoporosis International, Professor Nordin said that calcium supplementation can offset the increased calcium requirement of postmenopausal women and can prevent or delay bone loss in most of these women, at least for some years. However, supplementation with Vitamin D is probably also required for in elderly people in whom secondary hyperparathyroidism is common and generally due to vitamin D insufficiency. “This is not to decry the value of adding other more potent and costly treatments for osteoporosis once it is established but simply to document the role of calcium in the all-important prevention of the condition which should start at menopause in women and perhaps at the age of 60 in men,” he concludes....