Calcium Slashes Men’s Risks of Death

Previous studies have reported a heart health-promoting effect of calcium, with researchers finding that the mineral may lower blood pressure and thereby reduce the risk of hypertension. Joanna Kaluza, from Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), and colleagues examined the association of dietary calcium and magnesium intake with all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality among 23,366 Swedish men, ages 45 to 79 years, who did not use dietary supplements. The team found that those men with the highest average intakes, almost double the recommended levels, of calcium were at a 25% less risk for all-cause mortality and death by heart disease, as compared to those men with the lowest average intakes.  The researchers conclude that: “This population-based, prospective study of men with relatively high intakes of dietary calcium and magnesium showed that intake of calcium above that recommended daily may reduce all-cause mortality.”