Women's Health

Calcium May Help Prevent Hormone Disorder

Study Is a First

Previous studies have suggested that when the parathyroid glands are overworked because of low calcium, they may go haywire and lose their ability to shut off.

“But we haven’t been able to prove it,” says researcher Julie Paik, MD, instructor and attending physician in the department of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Paik says this study is the first to look at the relationship between calcium intake and hyperparathyroidism.

When researchers divided women in the study by their average calcium intakes, they found those with the highest calcium intake had the lowest risk for developing hyperparathyroidism. That was true even after researchers adjusted their results to eliminate the influence of a variety of things that can raise a person’s risk for hyperparathyroidism, like age, body weight, taking in other nutrients like vitamins A and D, and protein, and smoking and drinking alcohol.

What’s more, women who supplemented their diets with at least 500 mg of calcium a day had a 40%-70% reduced risk of being diagnosed with the disease compared to women who didn’t take calcium supplements.

Paik says women who have questions about the risks and benefits of taking calcium supplements should talk to their doctors.

“This study should be part of the discussion about calcium intake,” she says, but ultimately, more research is needed to know if the benefits of supplements will outweigh any risks.

The study can’t prove that higher calcium levels, alone, were the reason that some women were able to dodge the disease. But it provides a solid lead for future research.