Lee Swanson Research Update

Calcium Combats Colorectal Cancer

April 2005

Calcium may help women lower their risk of colorectal cancer, researchers reported in a recent issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. Research teams from the University of Minnesota and the National Cancer Institute examined dietary and lifestyle information collected for eight and a half years from more than 45,300 women from the Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration Project, a breast cancer screening program conducted jointly by the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society. None of the women, whose average age was 62, had a history of colorectal cancer.

Researchers found that women with the highest intake of calcium-more than 830 mg per day-had a 26% lower risk of developing colorectal cancer than women who consumed the least calcium. The risk was 24% lower among women who consumed 800 mg of calcium supplements per day, when compared to women who took no calcium supplements. Moreover, women consuming more than 412 mg of dietary calcium per day and more than 800 mg of calcium supplements had a 46% lower risk of developing the disease than women who consumed less than these amounts.

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 14:126-132, 2005

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