{"id":461339,"date":"2026-03-06T20:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/461339\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T20:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:34:08","slug":"doctor-sounds-alarm-over-widely-used-supplement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/461339\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor sounds alarm over widely used supplement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calcium is widely hailed as the cornerstone of bone health, but when taken as a supplement, scientists suggest it may carry dangers that go far beyond fractures.<\/p>\n

A board-certified obstetrician-gynaecologist has issued a stark warning about the dangers lurking in calcium supplements, calling them potentially life-threatening.<\/p>\n

Dr Jennifer Ashton took to TikTok to share her concerns, pointing to research that’s been known about for some time but deserves more attention.<\/p>\n

She said: “This study specifically talks about the ways calcium supplementation can be potentially life-threatening.”<\/p>\n

\"CALCIUM<\/p>\n

Calcium supplements carry significant risks for the cardiovascular system<\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

The doctor highlighted findings from a meta-analysis showing an eight per cent rise in cardiovascular events for every standard deviation increase in blood calcium levels, with death rates following a similar pattern.<\/p>\n

“That means more is not better. In fact, more is a lot worse,” she warned.<\/p>\n

The higher your blood calcium levels climb, the greater your chances of suffering a heart attack, coronary artery disease, or even death, according to Dr Ashton.<\/p>\n

She noted that elevated calcium in the bloodstream, even within what’s considered the normal range, brings some worrying consequences.<\/p>\n

“Higher circulating calcium levels within the normal range are associated with increased thickness in the major arteries going to your brain and a higher prevalence of abdominal aortic calcification, and more calcified plaques in the coronary arteries,” she said.<\/p>\n

Calcium doesn’t just stay in your bones where you want it; the effects of taking calcium supplements are immediate and last longer than you might think.<\/p>\n

According to Dr Ashton, taking supplemental calcium causes a sudden surge in blood levels that sticks around for roughly eight hours.<\/p>\n

“During that eight hours, there’s about a five-point increase in blood pressure, there’s a change in clotting profile, and there’s an increase or propensity for calcification, meaning the calcium deposits in your arteries, none of which do we want,” she said.<\/p>\n

So while you’re going about your day, that supplement is busy raising your blood pressure and potentially encouraging calcium to settle in places it really shouldn’t.<\/p>\n

When it comes to weighing up the risks against the benefits, Dr Ashton’s verdict is that “there is no benefit for the vast majority of women”. <\/p>\n

She continued that this is particularly true for post-menopausal women, in terms of reducing the risk of a fracture from osteoporosis.<\/p>\n

\"ARTERIES<\/p>\n

The downsides of taking calcium supplements extend far beyond cardiovascular problems<\/p>\n

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GETTY<\/p>\n

And the downsides extend far beyond cardiovascular problems, as kidney stones and gastrointestinal issues also make the list of potential side effects.<\/p>\n

Her advice is to get informed and have a proper chat with your doctor before reaching for that supplement bottle.<\/p>\n

“Please be educated and discuss this with your healthcare provider,” she urged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calcium is widely hailed as the cornerstone of bone health, but when taken as a supplement, scientists suggest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[102,50,6636,2331,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-461339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-news","tag-nutrition","tag-sgg","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}