Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2011 Oct;94(4):1144-9.
doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.015032. Epub 2011 Aug 31.

Calcium and vitamin D supplements and health outcomes: a reanalysis of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) limited-access data set

Mark J Bolland  1 , Andrew Grey, Greg D Gamble, Ian R Reid
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Calcium and vitamin D supplements and health outcomes: a reanalysis of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) limited-access data set

Mark J Bolland et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Frequent use of personal, nonprotocol calcium supplements obscured an adverse effect of coadministered calcium and vitamin D (CaD) on cardiovascular risk in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI).

Objective: We investigated the effects of the use of personal calcium or vitamin D supplements on other outcomes in the WHI CaD Study (WHI CaD) by using the WHI limited-access clinical trials data set.

Design: The WHI CaD was a 7-y, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of CaD (1 g Ca/400 IU vitamin D daily) in 36,282 community-dwelling, postmenopausal women. The incidence of total cancer (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers), breast and colorectal cancers, hip and total fracture, and mortality was assessed by using Cox proportional hazards models.

Results: In the WHI CaD, interactions between the use of either personal calcium or vitamin D supplements and CaD were found for total, breast, and colorectal cancers but not for fracture or mortality. In 15,646 women (43%) who were not taking personal calcium or vitamin D supplements at randomization, CaD significantly decreased the risk of total, breast, and invasive breast cancers by 14-20% and nonsignificantly reduced the risk of colorectal cancer by 17%. In women taking personal calcium or vitamin D supplements, CaD did not alter cancer risk (HR: 1.06-1.26).

Conclusions: For women in the WHI CaD who were not taking personal calcium or vitamin D supplements at randomization, CaD decreased the risk of total, breast, and colorectal cancers and did not change the risk of fractures or total mortality. The nonskeletal effects of CaD may be more important than the skeletal effects and should be considered when evaluating these supplements. The WHI CaD trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00000611.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1.
Cumulative incidence of cancer, fractures, and mortality in 15,646 women who were not taking personal calcium or vitamin D supplements at baseline. (Note the different range of cumulative incidence for each panel.) HRs, 95% CIs, and P values are from Cox proportional hazard models. CaD, calcium and vitamin D.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Baron JA, Beach M, Mandel JS, van Stolk RU, Haile RW, Sandler RS, Rothstein R, Summers RW, Snover DC, Beck GJ, et al. Calcium supplements for the prevention of colorectal adenomas. Calcium Polyp Prevention Study Group. N Engl J Med 1999;340:101–7 - PubMed
    1. Bonithon-Kopp C, Kronborg O, Giacosa A, Rath U, Faivre J. Calcium and fibre supplementation in prevention of colorectal adenoma recurrence: a randomised intervention trial. European Cancer Prevention Organisation Study Group. Lancet 2000;356:1300–6 - PubMed
    1. Lappe JM, Travers-Gustafson D, Davies KM, Recker RR, Heaney RP. Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk: results of a randomized trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2007;85:1586–91 - PubMed
    1. Autier P, Gandini S, Vitamin D. Supplementation and total mortality: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arch Intern Med 2007;167:1730–7 - PubMed
    1. Bolland MJ, Barber PA, Doughty RN, Mason B, Horne A, Ames R, Gamble GD, Grey A, Reid IR. Vascular events in healthy older women receiving calcium supplementation: randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2008;336:262–6 - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Associated data

-