Hello, this is Monica Reinagel, and you're listening to episode number 470 of the

Nutrition Diva Podcast.

One of the themes that we're talking about this month is gut health.

And today I've got some news on a new study that finds a possible link between colon cancer

and your daily calcium supplement.

A new study published earlier this month found that taking a calcium supplement could increase your

colon, especially if you've ever had polyps in the past.

Calcium supplements are among the most commonly recommended

and commonly taken nutritional supplements. Although adequate

calcium intake throughout life but especially during childhood and

adolescents can reduce the risk of osteoporosis later in life, the benefits of calcium

supplementation in midlife and beyond appear to be modest at best. And a growing

body of evidence suggests that calcium supplements can increase the risk of other problems, such as kidney stones, heart disease, and now colon polyps.

In this latest study, researchers recruited 2,000 people who had previously been diagnosed with polyps

and divided them into four groups. One group took a supplement providing 1,200 milligrams of calcium per day, and that's a pretty standard dosage.

A second group took 1,000 international units of Vitamin D.

A third group took both calcium and vitamin D, and a fourth group took a placebo pill.

The researchers probably hoped that those people that were taking the calcium would have a lower incidence of polyps and that would have been

in line with the result of a meta analysis that was published in 2016 which found

that taking 1200 to 2,000 milligrams of calcium per day led to a modest decrease in the

incidence of columpollips. However, this was not what they saw. Five years into the study, no significant difference was seen

between the groups, but fortunately the study did not end there, because 10 years

...