Table 1.

Potential effects and mechanisms of calcium in pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease

Effect	Biological Mechanisms
Favorable cholesterol changes	Binds to fatty acids and bile acids in intestine to form insoluble soaps, increases lipid excretion, and decreases amount of lipids entering enterohepatic circulation.
Blood pressure lowering	Down-regulates activity of renin-angiotensin system, improves sodium-potassium balance, and suppresses vascular smooth muscle tone.
Anti-obesity effect	Reduces adipocyte intracellular calcium, inhibits fatty acid synthase, and activates lipolysis.
Improvement of insulin secretion	Maintains the balance between extracellular and intracellular calcium pools of pancreatic β cell.
Enhancement of insulin sensitivity	Improves insulin signal transduction in primary insulin target tissues, and enhances peripheral insulin sensitivity.
Improvement in inflammatory profile	Inhibits cytokine-induced apoptosis.
Anti-thrombotic property	Reduces platelet intracellular free calcium load and inhibits platelet aggregation.
Augmentation of vasorelaxation	Enhances hyperpolarization by opening of calcium-activated potassium channels, increases sensitivity to nitric oxide, and decreases production of superoxide and vasoconstrictor prostanoids.
Vascular calcification	Calcium deposition in atherosclerotic lesions.