A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine has found calcium supplementation to be an effective intervention for protecting against bone fractures in older women, as long as women comply with treatment in the long term.
The researchers form the University of Western in Australia randomly assigned nearly 1500 women to receive 600 mg calcium carbonate twice daily or a placebo.
After the study period of five years, researchers found participants who took 80 percent of their calcium tablets experienced a reduction of 34 percent in the risk of fracture at any site. Calcium treated patients also showed significant improvements in the measurements of the heel, femoral neck and whole body dual x-ray data. Bone strength was also improved in patients who received the calcium supplementation compared to the placebo group.
These findings provide encouraging evidence that increased dietary calcium intake may be an effective intervention to prevent fractures due to osteoporosis, a bone-thinning disease.
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