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Doctors are recommending that people over 50 take supplements of calcium to reduce the risk of bone damage if they fall as a study in the Lancet medical journal suggests that daily pills can prevent one in four fractures in the over-50s.
The findings will add to the increasing number of pills many older people are recommended to take and renew suggestions that some should consider a daily “polypill”, including cholesterol-busting statins, aspirin and calcium.
University of Western Sydney scientists pooled the results of 17 studies involving more than 50,000 people over 50 who were given calcium supplements.
They discovered that supplements reduced the risk of fractures by 12 per cent but when the proper dose of 1200mg was taken every day the risk was reduced by 24 per cent.
Benjamin Tang, the lead author, said: “If you’re fit, healthy and have a very good diet then at 50 perhaps it’s optional but the older you get and the poorer diet you have the more definite the benefit.”
But the study also suggested that many people are not taking strong enough doses of calcium, or not taking them regularly enough, to reap the full benefits. “Unfortunately most of the tablets are low dosage,” said Dr Tang.
Fractures are a major cause of injury in older people and particularly women, who suffer a faster loss of bone density after menopause. Women have a one in six chance of fracturing a bone after the age of 50 and men a one in 20 chance.
Last month the heart czar, Roger Boyle, suggested that every man from the age of 50 and women from 60 or 65 should be put on statins to lower their cholesterol.
His comments led to suggestions that a polypill combining a range of vitamins and medications should be available which would include calcium. Most of the research he surveyed was based on women and the advice would differ for men.
By Polly Curtis
