Calcium with Vitamin D Supplements Help Prevent Weight Gain in Post-Menopausal Women

I normally don’t post entries regarding weight management here at Eating Fabulous because that’s not really the main focus of this blog. However, this is is an exception, since the emphasis is still on the health benefit of a combo of dietary supplements in weight management in a specific group of women.

According to a new study in the May 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, post-menopausal women who take calcium and vitamin D supplements (1,000 milligrams of calcium plus 400 international units of vitamin D) may gain less weight than those who do not. It is believed that these compounds stimulate the breakdown of fat cells and suppress the development of new ones.

After three years, when compared to women taking placebo, women taking the calcium and vitamin D 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 (more than 2.2 pounds).

Among many reasons why it is important to prevent weight gain in postmenopausal women is that it is one of the risk factors to fractures as a consequence of osteoporosis or low bone density. Calcium plus Vitamin D supplements seems to work two-ways in preventing osteoporosis-related fractures.