Consuming Calcium Supplements May Increase Risk of Dementia?

For older women with certain health conditions, taking calcium supplements may be associated with an increased risk of dementia. In a recent study, researchers found that women who previously had a stroke and who regularly take calcium supplements seem toseven times more likely to develop dementia over a period of five years compared with women who have had a stroke but did not take their calcium supplements.

In addition, the researchers found that women who have signs of a disorder that affects blood flow in the brain and are regularly taking calcium supplements, twice as likely todevelop dementia over five years than women who have signs of the disorder, but do nottaking their supplements.



However, while studies show a link between calcium supplements and a higher risk ofdementia in some women, but it does not prove that taking calcium supplements cause dementia, said study co-author Dr. Silke Kern, a neuroscience researcher at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Further research is needed before it made recommendations on the potential risk for women taking calcium supplements, said Kern. In the study, the researchers looked at the medical history of 700 women between the ages of 70 and 92 who did not have dementiaat the start of the study. The researchers asked the women to regularly taking calcium supplements and tested their memory and thinking. The scientists also scanned the brainsof 447 participants.

Research shows that 54 women had a stroke before the study began, and 98 women taking calcium supplements at the start of the study. Among women who scanned his brain at the beginning of the study, 71 percent had lesions in their brain's white matter, which is a marker for cerebrovascular disease - a group of disorders that affect the blood flow in the brain.

The lesions are common in older adults, with a review study estimated that anywhere from 50 percent to 98 percent of older adults may have it.

The researchers then monitor all the women involved in the study for five years, and found that 59 women developed dementia, and 54 women had a stroke during this period until August 17 yesterday.

When the researchers looked at the relationship between calcium supplements at the start of the study and a woman's risk of dementia during the study period, it is a higher risk, but only for women who have signs of cerebrovascular disease at baseline or who have had a stroke.

Cerebrovascular disease is sometimes defined as well, including stroke. But in this study, the researchers did not include in their definition of stroke cerebrovascular disease, but simply call including the types of cerebrovascular disease. For example, six of the 15 women who previously had a stroke and menbgonsumsi calcium supplements developed dementia during the study period. For comparison, a smaller proportion - 12 of 93 women who previously suffered a stroke but did not take supplements - develop dementia during the same time period.

The researchers say they do not know for sure why the use of calcium supplements associated with a higher risk of dementia in women with this condition. "The mechanism for the harmful effects of calcium supplementation is not fully understood," Kern said, quoted by Live Science, Sunday (08/21/2016).

However, it may be that calcium supplementation affects the blood vessels and thus potentially even change the blood flow in these vessels, said Kern.

Previous research has linked blood vessel problems with high risk of dementia. Dr. MarcGordon, chief of neurology at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York, who was not involved in the study, also said that it is too early to determine directly whether calcium supplements cause of dementia in some women. The number of women who take supplements in this study only a small part, he said. Future studies with more participantsto be done, he said.