That Calcium Supplement Might Be Killing You

It’s happened again. Now you can put calcium on the list as one more thing we thought was good for us but could actually be killing us. First we are told that after a “certain” age, we need more calcium or our bones will start crumbling. It's among the many vitamins, hormones, and minerals we are encouraged to take after 40 so that we can maintain our vigor and avoid a hip-breaking, hunchback existence. We happily oblige and start wearing comfortable shoes and popping supplements like they are our salvation. Little did we know, we may be doing more harm than good.

Just as we are getting the hang of what we’re supposed to do to keep ourselves from shriveling up and turning into prunes, the rules change. In a recent study, it was discovered that women who get too much calcium via supplements (1,400 mg a day or more) are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease. But even those who take 600 mg or less are also at an increased risk of death. Talk about can’t win for losing.

Apparently, now, instead of playing this crazy ass game of dance monkey dance to the health gods, jumping through hoops, and bending over backwards to stay young and healthy, we are expected to simply pick our poison. So the question is, ladies, would you prefer to die of a heart attack or develop your very own dowagers hump? Talk about unfair!

It is inevitable that the more research and studies that take place, the more frequently we will find out more supposedly good things are not good for us at all. We may not be able to stop time and its effects on our body, but it would be nice to not accidentally kill ourselves with an overdose of something we were taking to make us healthy.

So, what’s it going to be, ladies; broken hips or heart attacks?