Men who have too much calcium in their bloodstreams could face an increased risk of dying of prostate cancer, according to an analysis from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin that is being released today.
"We show that men in upper range of the normal distribution of serum calcium subsequently have an almost threefold increased risk for fatal prostate cancer," said Gary Schwartz, an associate professor of cancer biology and of epidemiology and prevention at Wake Forest. Such excess calcium can be lowered, he said.
The research appears in the September issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Halcyon Skinner, a co-author of the study and a researcher at the School of Medicine and Public Health at Wisconsin, stressed that there is "little relationship between calcium in the diet and calcium in serum. So men needn't be concerned about reducing their ordinary dietary intakes of calcium."
The researchers analyzed the results of 2,814 men who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Measurement of the amount of calcium in the bloodstream was determined an average of 9.9 years before prostate cancer was found.
The researchers focused on the 85 cases of prostate cancer and 25 prostate-cancer deaths among the 2,814 men, and divided the group into thirds based on the serum calcium level.
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