BOSTON—Evidence from limited data suggests that vitamin D supplements at moderate to high doses may reduce cardiovascular disease risk, whereas calcium supplements seem to have minimal cardiovascular effects, according to a systematic review of published studies appearing in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Five prospective studies of patients receiving dialysis and one study involving a general population showed consistent reductions in CVD mortality among adults who received vitamin D supplements. Four prospective studies of initially healthy persons found no differences in incidence of CVD between calcium supplement recipients and non-recipients. Results of secondary analyses in eight randomized trials showed a slight but statistically non-significant reduction in CVD risk (pooled relative risk, 0.90 [95 percent CI, 0.77 to 1.05]) with vitamin D supplementation at moderate to high doses (approximately 1000 IU/d) but not with calcium supplementation (pooled relative risk, 1.14 [CI, 0.92 to 1.41]), or a combination of vitamin D and calcium supplementation (pooled relative risk, 1.04 [CI, 0.92 to 1.18]) compared with placebo.
