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Calcium Reducing Osteoporosis Risk for Women During Weight Loss

by Alex Baran

Premenopausal overweight women and women who lose weight may lower the risk of developing osteoporosis, a disease of bone-thinning, if they take calcium, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition. However, calcium doesn't seem to be effective in reducing osteoporosis for postmenopausal women.
The study participants were more than forty overweight, premenopausal women with an age average of thirty-eight and a body mass index (BMI) of 27.7. Women with a BMI higher than twenty-five are considered overweight.
The participants were split in two groups. One group engaged in a weight loss program and the other one in a weight maintenance program. Both groups took one gram of calcium daily for six months. During the study period researchers measured the women's bone loss.
Women from the weight loss group lost an average of 7.2 percent of their body weight. The bone mineral density did not increase or decrease.
Young women who consume the recommended levels of calcium and multivitamin which includes vitamin D don't have to worry about losing bone while they follow a weight loss diet if they lose weight healthy, explained researcher Dr. Sue A. Shapses.
Women with high levels of estrogen before menopause did not exhibit bone loss. Because of the high levels of estrogen, bones are protected during weight maintenance and weight loss, said Shapses. Researchers saw a decline in postmenopausal women low levels of estrogen when they were losing weight and also a decrease in calcium absorption.
For postmenopausal women a dose of 1.5 - 1.7 grams of calcium daily with around 400 IU (10 micrograms) per day of vitamin D are recommended, also said Shapses.

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