Men Fare Better with High Intakes of Calcium

March 2010

Intakes of calcium above the recommended daily levels appear to reduce the risk of all-cause mortality in Swedish men, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Average daily intakes of 1,953 mg of calcium were also associated with a slightly lower risk of mortality from heart disease, compared to average daily intakes of 990 mg per day.

Recommended daily intakes of calcium for people between 19 and 50 years of age are 1,000 mg for both men and women, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

On the other hand, intakes of magnesium were not associated with mortality from all causes, heart disease or cancer, reported researchers led by Alicja Wolk from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

Wolk and her co-workers analyzed data from 23,366 Swedish men aged between 45 and 79, none of whom used dietary supplements. Between 1998 and the end of 2007, they documented 2,358 deaths from all causes, which included 819 deaths from cardiovascular disease and 738 from cancer.

The highest average intakes of calcium, almost double the recommended levels, were associated with a 25% reduction in all-cause mortality, compared with the lowest average intakes, the researchers said. Magnesium intakes up to about 525 mg per day were not associated with any modifications to the risk of all-cause, CVD or cancer mortality, they added.

"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," the researchers concluded.

American Journal of Epidemiology Published online ahead of print.

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