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 .
Calcium, diet and fracture risk: a prospective study of 1898 incident fractures among 34 696 British women and men.
OBJECTIVE The risk factors for fractures are incompletely understood . An outst and ing question concerns the optimal amount of dietary calcium needed to minimise the risk of fracture . DESIGN We examined the associations of dietary calcium and other nutrients with self-reported fracture risk in a prospect i ve cohort study . Nutrient intakes were estimated using a semi-quantitative food-frequency question naire administered at recruitment . SETTING The UK . PARTICIPANTS A total of 26 749 women and 7947 men aged 20 - 89 years . RESULTS Over an average of 5.2 years of follow-up , 1555 women and 343 men reported one or more fractures , 72 % of these result ing from a fall . Among women , fracture risk was higher at lower calcium intakes , with a relative risk of 1.75 ( 95 % confidence interval ( CI ) 1.33 - 2.29 ) among women with a calcium intake of < 525 mg day- 1 compared with women with a calcium intake of at least 1200 mg day- 1 ( test for linear trend , P < 0.001 ) . The association of  dietary calcium with fracture risk was stronger among women aged under 50 years at recruitment than among women aged 50 and above .  Dietary calcium intake was not associated with fracture risk in men . Fracture risk was not related to the dietary intake of any other nutrient examined . CONCLUSION In this population , women with a low dietary calcium intake had an increased risk of bone fracture , and this association was more marked among younger women than among older 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 .