Calcium and vitamin d benefits weight

This blog has extolled the virtues of consuming calcium or taking supplements to meet the recommended guidelines for some time.

We have studied the benefits that calcium has on the strengthening of muscles and bones, and the importance of maintaining the amounts as we get older.

However, a report published recently shows that there is an added benefit to keeping the blood calcium levels topped up.

Calcium supplements and vitamin D supplements are believed to keep you slim too.

Women over 50 who regularly take calcium and vitamin D supplements are less likely to gain weight than those who do not, according to the study. Researchers found that those who had previously been deficient in the nutrients got the greatest benefits.

Experts said that the effect was down to an improved breakdown of fat cells and an increase in the production of leptin, a chemical that curbs the appetite.

Balancing the long line of nutrients in the diet could also stimulate the metabolism to work more efficiently, it is claimed.

The report, in the Archives of Internal Medicine journal, claimed that helping women maintain a stable weight in their 50s could be the key to stemming the obesity epidemic in the West.

Scientists from healthcare organisation Kaiser Permanente in California studied 36,282 postmenopausal women age 50 to 79.

The women either received a daily dose of 1,000mg of calcium and 400 international units of vitamin D, or a dummy pill. They were weighed once a year for approximately seven years.

At the end of the study, those who took the supplements weighed an average of 0.28 pounds less than those who did not.

The effects were even more pronounced among women who had previously been deficient in calcium. They were an average of 0.42 pounds lighter than those who did not take the tablets.

The researchers said: “Because weight loss or prevention of weight gain is likely to have significant health benefits for middleaged women, early to middle menopause may be a critical period of life in which to slow the trajectory of weight gain.”