OAKLAND, Calif., May 16 (UPI) -- Calcium and vitamin D supplements may help postmenopausal women gain less weight than those who do not take supplements, says a U.S. study.
Bette Caan, of Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Oakland, and colleagues studied 36,282 postmenopausal women age 50 to 79 who were enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative clinical trial.
The women were randomly assigned to receive a dose of 1,000 milligrams of calcium plus 400 international units of vitamin D (18,176 women) or placebo (18,106 women) daily. They were weighed each year for approximately seven years.
After three years, when compared with women taking placebo, the women who took supplements had a lower risk of gaining weight in both small amounts -- 2.2 to 6.6 pounds -- and moderate amounts -- more than 6.6 pounds -- and had a higher likelihood of maintaining a stable weight, within 2.2 pounds of starting weight or losing weight of more than 2.2 pounds, according to the findings published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
