The study's authors said more research is needed to confirm their findings and investigate the possible risks of calcium and vitamin D supplementation, particularly heart disease and prostate cancer.
One expert agreed that more study is needed.
The study authors "say that traditional approaches use too little calcium and/or vitamin D, but that as one increases the doses there are other risks, such as cardiovascular events," noted Dr. Louis Potters, a prostate cancer specialist and chair of radiation medicine at North Shore - LIJ Health System, in New Hyde Park, N.Y. "So that the trade-off for treating osteoporosis is associated with other risks."
Potters stressed that "not all men with prostate cancer need hormone therapy, only those with high-risk or advanced disease. And for those men, they need to have a discussion with their physician about the risks of these medications and how best to perhaps mitigate some of those risks."
The study was published online in the July issue of The Oncologist.
More information
The U.S. National Institutes of Health has additional information on prostate cancer.
-- Mary Elizabeth Dallas
SOURCES: Louis Potters, M.D., chair, radiation medicine, North Shore - LIJ Health System, New Hyde Park, N.Y.; Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, news release, Aug. 7, 2012
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