CONCLUSIONS Dietary calcium intake is not associated with risk of fracture , and there is no clinical trial evidence that increasing calcium intake from dietary sources prevents fractures .
OBJECTIVE To examine the evidence underpinning recommendations to increase calcium intake through dietary sources or calcium supplements to prevent fractures .
Dietary calcium and hip fracture risk: The NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-Up Study
The effect of dietary calcium on  hip fracture risk was examined prospect ively using the NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-Up Study cohort , which is derived from a nationally representative sample of the United States population . A cohort of 4342 white men and postmenopausal women ages 50–74 years at baseline ( 1971–1975 ) were observed through 1987 for up to 16 years of follow-up . Quantitative estimates of calcium intake were obtained at baseline from a 24-h recall , while weekly frequency of dairy food consumption was obtained from a qualitative food frequency . By 1987 , 44 men and 122 women had experienced a hip fracture according to hospital records or death certificates . In the total sample of women the risk of hip fracture was only slightly lower for the highest quartile compared with the lowest . However , although not statistically significant , the age-adjusted risk of hip fracture was approximately 50 % lower in the highest quartile of calcium intake compared with the lowest quartile in the subgroup of women who were at least 6 years postmenopausal and not taking postmenopausal hormone . The low relative risk observed among men , although interesting , must be interpreted cautiously due to small sample size . Adjusting for other risk factors did not appreciably change the results for either sex . The pattern of relative risks for calcium quartiles and by selected cutpoints was not consistent with a dose-response effect of calcium . Our results suggest that calcium may lower hip fracture risk in late menopausal women
CONCLUSIONS Dietary calcium intake is not associated with risk of fracture , and there is no clinical trial evidence that increasing calcium intake from dietary sources prevents fractures .
OBJECTIVE To examine the evidence underpinning recommendations to increase calcium intake through dietary sources or calcium supplements to prevent fractures .