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The Role of Calcium Intake in Preventing Bone Fragility, Hypertension, and Certain Cancers^1,2,

Creighton University School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Hard Tissue Research, Omaha, NE 68131

This paper examines the evidence that connects calcium intake and vitamin D status to bone fragility, hypertension, colon cancer, and breast cancer. Human calcium physiology, with an intestinal absorptive barrier and inefficient conservation, reflects the abundance of calcium in the primordial human food supply. The calcium intake of stone-age adults is estimated at 50 to 75 mmol/d, three to five times the median calcium intake of present-day U.S. adults. Long-term calcium restriction and/or insufficient vitamin D may promote the development of bone fragility, high blood pressure, colon cancer, and breast cancer in susceptible individuals. Conversely, improvement in calcium intake and/or in vitamin D status may help to prevent these serious health problems. At least 12 intervention studies have established the skeletal benefit of increased calcium intake among women in the late post-menopause. Other reports suggest that adequate calcium may protect against salt-sensitive and pregnancy-associated hypertension. High intakes of both dietary calcium and vitamin D are associated with reduced development of precancerous changes in colonic mucosa. Preliminary findings also suggest that vitamin D has a protective effect against breast cancer.

KEY WORDS: • calcium • osteoporosis • cancer • vitamin D • hypertension

¹ Supported by National Institutes of Health Grant AR07912 and National Institutes of Health Grant AR39221 for Specialized Centers of Research in Osteoporosis.

² Presented as part of the symposium "Required Versus Optimal Intakes: A Look at Calcium" given at the Experimental Biology '93 meeting, New Orleans, LA, March 28–April 1, 1993. This symposium was sponsored by the American Institute of Nutrition and was supported by grants from the National Dairy Council and Land O'Lakes, Inc. Guest editor for this symposium was G. D. Miller, National Dairy Council, Rosemont, IL.

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