Calcium Pills May Raise Heart Attack Risk

Taking calcium pills to strengthen bones may increase your risk of a heart attack, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at information from questionnaires filled out by people in a long-running health study. About 24,000 people were involved. They were ages 35 to 64 when the study began. In the next 11 years, 354 people had heart attacks. The heart attack rate was 86% higher in people who took calcium pills than in those who did not take them. Taking calcium did not affect the rate of stroke or heart- and stroke-related death. The study appeared in the journal Heart. USA Today wrote about it May 24.