Instead of repeating myself, please read my response to a similar study last year. The title of the post was Do Calcium Supplements Cause Heart Attacks? and I hope this gives a clear explanation that the evil in this story is not the calcium supplement, but the fact that most people don't get enough vitamin K.
Why? Vitamin K is required by your body to understand where to put all that wonderful calcium. Without it, it'll get deposited into soft tissues (where it doesn't belong) and this becomes a problem when it gets deposited into the arteries (significantly increasing the risk of a heart attack and stroke).
This was totally coincidental, but just yesterday I covered a human study that showed* vitamin K2 in the form of MK-7 at just 180 mcg/day was able to reverse the negative cardiovascular effects of calcium.
(*more like implied, since the researchers didn't measure arterial calcium directly, but measured things affected by arterial calcium like elasticity)
What's particularly bizarre with this study on calcium was that the researchers actually investigated whether a higher intake of calcium might favourably modify cardiovascular risk factors. Am I out to lunch here? While some studies suggest calcium may help with blood pressure and cholesterol levels, calcium has never been used in a clinical setting to reduce cardiovascular risk factors (at least to my knowledge). In fact, I've known for many, many years, it's the opposite, just as the study's conclusion suggests. This gives me the itching desire to put on my conspiracy hat and say this could have been a witch hunt right from the beginning...but I won't go that far in this post.
For anyone taking calcium--and I've said this 1000s of times over the last 5 years or so--taking supplemental vitamin K2 is mandatory! Please peruse the links below and get the full story that mass media chooses to leave out.
If you subscribe to Know Guff, you'd already know this. If you don't, what's your excuse?!
Source: Associations of dietary calcium intake and calcium supplementation with myocardial infarction and stroke risk and overall cardiovascular mortality in the Heidelberg cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (EPIC-Heidelberg)
Related posts:
- Human Study Suggests Vitamin K2 (as MK-7) REVERSES Arterial Calcification
- Vitamin K Boosts Bone Benefits of Calcium and Vitamin D
- Administration of Oral Vitamin K2 to Newborns
- Study Proves Vitamin K2 Supplements Reverse Deficiencies
- Vitamin K May Improve Cognitive Health in the Elderly
- Do Calcium Supplements Cause Heart Attacks?
- Warfarin, Vitamin K, and Heart Attacks from Calcium
- Vitamin K Improves Bone Mineral Density
- Low-Dose K2 (as MK-7) Proven to be Effective
- Vitamin K Deficiency Linked to Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
- Calcium & Vitamin D Linked to Kidney Stones -- More Reason for Vitamin K?
- Arterial Calcification Linked to Dementia
- Calcium with Vitamin D Reduces Premature Death Rate
- Calcium & D3 for Polycystic Ovaries and Kidney Disease
- Calcium with Phosphorus Reduces Intestinal Permeability
- Calcium Supplements Help Reduce the Risk of Endometrial Cancer
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What a waste of time and money. i bet these are the same type of researchers who will publish another study showing smoking causes lung cancer! old news. let's move on.
ReplyDeleteI see your point. A little extreme, but yes, I can't disagree (I love double negatives).
DeleteWhat I find even more interesting is that given that vitamin K2's roll in calcium metabolism is nothing new, it blows my mind that these researchers (who apparently consider themselves educated on the matter) didn't even consider measuring vitamin K status.
This is the problem with researchers who think along the lines of conventional medicine, they look at things in isolation, just as drugs.
The fact is that calcium is great at improving bone health. From a conventional medical point-of-view, this makes sense--you treat one condition, and accept the fact that there will be side-effects you have to deal with.
However, prevention of a disease is FAR different from treating a disease. If you take treatment (in this case calcium as a mono-therapy) and apply it as prevention, it just doesn't add up. Preventing osteoporosis is multi-factorial, and if you take an essential nutrient like calcium and use it as a drug (i.e. treatment), you SHOULD expect side effects (e.g. increased risk of heart attacks). However, if you truly want prevention, you've got to take a holistic approach and consider the full picture.
Anyway, thanks for your comment. I realized that it gave me the opportunity to share a lot more of my thoughts on this hot topic.
Based on the research showing K2's importance in calcium metabolism, i can't believe research continues to be conducted on calcium and cardiovascular disease and vitamin K status isn't even considered! it's actually mind boggling. Thanks for covering this, Lee. I only hope the folks at CBC or CTV subscribe to this blog and get your input next time.
ReplyDeleteAs long as endocrinology and specifics from that discipline are ignorant amongst doctors, few can seek ailment. Doctors aren't alchemists, Latin for 'teacher'... and corporate interests are their knowledge, pretty straight forward. Lest we forget those diluted 'doctors' saying smoking is a beneficiary and lets ignore aids for a few decades...
ReplyDeleteControl your pH level
Look after the mucus membrane
Raw Vegan Diet
Understand psychosomatic influence
DONE. Forget this calcium jargon... Nothing causes a heart attack, except your own miss guided ability to remain calm. The sudden 'hand-to-chest' affray and panicked reaction IS the heart attack, that extra kick of adrenaline, adrenochrome etc IS THE HEART ATTACK, Pill dispensaries, oh sorry, doctors, are only introduced to psychosomatic dis-eases such as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
Studies are limited beyond reasonable repute, a famous real doctor from Harvard did state over 90% of medical studies are full-of-S***, I'm just surprised he was kind enough to leave that possible 10%...