The possible harmful effect of Calcium in favoring tumors has been re-confirmed. The dairy industry continues to insist upon a non–existent need to consume milk products and the industry linked to osteoporosis suggests Calcium requirements that are excessive and treatments that are often dangerous. We’re surrounded by Calcium and by organizations that propose it, perhaps a bit too much. It’s already been reported many times, Calcium inhibits the immune system and facilitates the insurgence of tumors. A recent Finnish study confirms it.

Italian version

Everywhere you turn, you see advertisements or informative messages that call for an increase in the use of Calcium. By now it's an established practice to prescribe Calcium to any woman over 40. Not only is there no data that supports its broad use, but there' actually data that reports of the risk of Parkinson's, dementia, kidney stones and, what's worse, tumors in people who eat a great amount of dairy products or who use calcium supplements.

The forms of tumors that are linked to calcium use are often hormone-related. This confirms the report of the increase in factors resembling insulin (IGF1 and IGF2) that are stimulated within the body when milk products are consumed.

However, recent research performed in Finland and published on June 1 in the International Journal of Cancer (Mitrou PN et al, Int J Cancer 2007 Jun 1;120(11):2466-73) evaluated the incidence of prostrate cancer in 29133 men over a period of 17 years. The study showed that the risk of becoming ill with cancer was deeply connected to the amount of calcium that was consumed (considerable differences between persons who ate 2 grams of calcium and those who ate less than 1 gram per day) and the use of dairy products (which are among the greatest and most recommended contributors of calcium in the European diet).

We believe that the suggestion of medical prevention of this sort is unacceptable considering the fact that it has been proven to be harmful and risky. On the other hand, in Italy alone there is 1 minute of food advertisement for every 5 minutes of television transmission on every channel and the thrust to use Calcium and eat dairy products continues to be strong and constant.

Every therapist has the possibility to ponder on this subject and take advantage of the data available (many are listed in the menu of related articles on the right). In this way, they can help those frightened patients who come to their studios with false diagnoses of osteoporosis to understand that physical exercise, together with a healthy diet are the most useful instruments for staying healthy without calcium supplements. In a curiously inverse manner, people have started to compare the use of calcium to the blood-letting commonly performed in Moliere's time: useless, perhaps harmful, but widely practiced.

Italian version