Osteoporosis, which is characterised by having low bone density, is a now national affliction, one that is likely to only get more problematic and become more expensive as the population continues to age. At present there are more than 44 million Americans currently suffering with the disease. The majority of the sufferers are women and it is estimated that one in two women and one in four men over the age of 50 will break a bone due at some point due to their osteoporosis.
We know quite a lot about the causes of osteoporosis and the best ways to prevent it, but occasionally, the information can become unnecessarily confusing. For example, the Institute of Medicine has now recommended women who are older than 50 should supplement their diets with calcium and vitamin D. However, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a health advisory group, recently said there actually isn’t any evidence to suggest that supplementation makes a measurable difference.
It is clear that the current evidence does not suggest that calcium or vitamin D supplementation is effective in preventing fractures. But it has been known for a long time that having good levels of calcium in the diet and sufficient vitamin D are important in maintaining bone health.
And this isn’t the only bad news for advocates of supplementation. Even before the recent publications that suggested that women who take calcium supplementation greater than 800 milligrams daily were increasing their risk of heart attacks and mortality, there were a number of physicians who ardently stated that taking calcium could lead to calcium build-up in the arteries. This shows that supplements might actually be very bad for us.
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