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Keeping the extra pounds off after menopause can be tricky -- but new research suggests calcium and vitamin D supplements may help.

California researchers studied about 36,000 postmenopausal women who were randomly assigned to take 1,000 milligrams of calcium plus 400 international units of vitamin D daily or a placebo over about a seven year period. All the women went in for regular weight checks once a year.

Overall, women taking the supplements ended up weighing about 0.28 pounds less than women taking the placebo. That's not a big difference, but after three years, these women were also less likely to have gained either a small or moderate amount of weight, more likely to have maintained a stable weight, and more likely to have lost weight.

The researchers emphasize counting calories and getting enough exercise are still the best ways for postmenopausal women to keep the extra pounds off as they get older but believe these findings suggest there may be a role for calcium supplementation as well.

"Because weight loss or prevention of weight gain is likely to have significant health benefits for middle-aged women, early to middle menopause may be a critical period of life in which to slow the trajectory of weight gain," they report in their study. "Further research should be undertaken to address the effect of calcium supplementation combined with caloric restriction and physical activity on weight gain prevention."

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2007;167:893-902

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