And while we're on the subject of supplements . . .

Last time, I mentioned that lots of people take calcium supplements for "bone health." Well, you might want to think again. The linked article presents very complex statistical analysis, but to make a long story short the authors have done everything they can to control for potential confounding in an epidemiological cohort study. (They took advantage of a cohort of Swedish women recruited originally for a study of the benefits [or lack thereof] of screening mammography.)The bottom line is that the body regulates the level of calcium in the blood very closely. Unless you have a real calcium deficiency, more calcium won't make your bones stronger, it will just be excreted. Up to a point, that is. The basic conclusion of this study is that calcium supplementation at low levels -- say from a multivitamin -- is probably harmless, but doesn't do you any good either. However, once you get above a certain threshold, about 1400 mg/day, which you can get from taking a specific calcium supplement, it sharply raises your risk for heart attacks and death.So once again, the same message. Eat a half decent diet. Skip the supplements, you're wasting your money and more likely to be harming yourself than helping yourself. If you have a specific nutritional deficiency, it may be a different story. Talk to your doctor.On another subject, Merck has agreed to pay investors $688 million for keeping secret the results of trials showing that it's highly profitable blockbuster drug Vytorin doesn't r...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs