After studying results of the Women's Health Initiative in the U.S., American researchers have found that postmenopausal women taking calcium and vitamin D supplements weigh slightly less than women not taking the supplements.
As part of the Women's Health Initiative, researchers recruited over 32,000 women and randomly assigned them a daily supplement containing 1000 mg of calcium with 400 international units of vitamin D, or a placebo.Â
After 7 years, researchers found that women who took the supplement weighed an average of 0.13 kg (0.28 pounds) less than women who did not take the supplement.
When researchers compared the supplement group to a group of women who did not consume the recommended amount of calcium before the study began, the weight difference was even more between the two groups. Women receiving the supplement weighted an average of 0.2 kg (0.42 pounds) less.
While further studies are needed to examine the full relationship between calcium, vitamin D and weight in postmenopausal women, these most recent findings are published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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