Calcium supplementation does not increase mortality

Tang, Benjamin M P; Nordin, B E Christopher

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01910.x

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In reply: In Table 5 of Bolland and colleagues’ study, the P value after allowing for covariables was 0.08,1 which is not significant. This was without including smoking, which would undoubtedly have reduced the significance further as there were more smokers in the calcium group.

1 Centre for Complementary Medicine Research, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW.
2 School of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA.

Correspondence: benjamin@clubsalsa.com.au

1. Bolland MJ, Barber PA, Doughty RN, et al. Vascular events in healthy older women receiving calcium supplementation: randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2008; 336: 262-266.
2. Harwood RH, Sahota O, Gaynor K, et al. A randomised, controlled comparison of different calcium and vitamin D supplementation regimens in elderly women after hip fracture: the Nottingham Neck of Femur (NoNOF) Study. Age Ageing 2004; 33: 45-51.
3. Grant AM, Avenell A, Campbell MK, et al. Oral vitamin D3 and calcium for secondary prevention of low-trauma fractures in elderly people (Randomised Evaluation of Calcium Or vitamin D, RECORD): a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 2005; 365: 1621-1628.

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