Mineral Therapies
16—Weighing up the evidence on
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Our most abundant mineral

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Calcium is tops as far as I'm concerned

Calcium is one of my ‘go to’ supplements for a lot of my clients. I most frequently use it for people with sleep & mood disorders, as well as for pregnant & lactating women. Unfortunately, some people are still hesitant about using it after it received a lot of bad press a few years ago. I want you to know that when prescribed correctly, calcium can provide a very simple solution to many of your health concerns.

This blog post is part-one of a two-part series. Next time I’ll discuss:

01— how to optimise calcium in your diet
02— surprising health concerns that calcium
can be used to treat

Orthodox medicine claims calcium supplements are harmful

A few years ago, the media began kicking up a stink about calcium. This media outburst was based on an overview, by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), of 11 studies. The BMJ concluded that if you supplemented your diet with calcium it would increase your risk of Myocardial Infarction.

The public reaction was:
Shock, horror — not Myocardial Infarction!
We had better avoid calcium supplementation at all cost, as we don’t want that (whatever that is?)

The ‘average Joe’ doesn’t understand medical jargon — a Myocardial Infarction is a heart attack. The ‘average Joe’ also doesn’t know how to critically evaluate clinical studies.

Based solely on the media outcries, and the evaluations of the BMJ, the public believed they had good cause for concern1.

The Law of Hype — The Situation Is Often the Opposite of the Way It Appears in the Press

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries + Jack Trout

Natural medicine claims the studies were inadequately evaluated

Australia’s leading natural health science company2 investigated these 11 studies. They concluded that two important factors were overlooked in the BMJ’s analysis of the information:

  1. The form of calcium used to supplement the diet is significant

    All 11 studies used either calcium carbonate or calcium citrate as the source of calcium. Calcium sourced from whole bone mineral complexes, such as hydroxyapatite were not used. This latter form of calcium is more reflective of dietary calcium.

  2. The use of calcium supplements without added Vitamin D may be associated with an increased risk of heart attacks

    The studies excluded any calcium supplements that contained Vitamin D. The results showed that where the subjects had the lowest levels of Vitamin D in their body, they also tended to have significantly more heart attacks per 100 patients.3 Natural medicine’s calcium supplements always use highly absorbable forms of calcium, and provide the necessary co-factors to help the mineral do what it needs to do in the body.

Vitamin K helps transfer calcium into the bone

Why is calcium so important for us?

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body. Not only is it vital for the proper composition of bone and teeth, but it is integral for:

  1. the regulation of our heart beat

  2. blood clotting

  3. much of the body’s enzymatic activity

    (our metabolism)

  4. our nervous and muscular systems

Boron activates Vitamin D, and increases biologically active oestrogen in menopausal women

How much calcium do we need?

Recommended dietary allowances vary greatly, depending upon:

  1. Age

  2. Sex

  3. Stage of life

    e.g. teenager, pregnancy or lactation

  4. Health status

    e.g. osteoporosis risk, or high blood pressure

Recommended Daily Allowance

You would need to consume all of this food to get 1200mg calcium.

This is  the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for males and females aged 11-24 years, and for pregnant and lactating women.

1 cup of Yoghurt
1 cup of Vitasoy Rice Milk (or a 200ml glass of Trim milk)
1 tin of sardines
9 dried figs
20 almonds

You can see why this might be a ‘big ask’ for people to consume on a daily basis – hence why supplementation is often necessary.

A number of different sources of dietary calcium are displayed on a box

Lisa says:

Calcium supplementation is safe and effective

Natural health formulas always use highly absorbable forms of calcium, and provide the necessary co-factors to help the mineral do what it needs to do in the body e.g. Vitamin D, Vitamin K, Boron, and Magnesium. When used appropriately, calcium supplementation is very beneficial.

Your Naturopath will take the following into consideration when advising you:

Appropriate calcium formulation

Correct daily dosage

Optimisation of supplementation

How and when to take your calcium formula so you get the most benefit from it

Note: The only time I have ever seen isolated calcium (calcium without any co-factors) is when my clients have come to me with prescription calcium carbonate dispensed via the Pharmacy.

When prescribed correctly, calcium is very beneficial for many health concerns

Make an appointment with Lisa

Lisa Fitzgibbon is a degree qualified (2006), experienced and registered Naturopath & Medical Herbalist. She runs her own private practice – OOMPH in Grey Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand.

Lisa has been involved in the Natural Health industry for 16 years. She draws on her professional training and experience, as well as her own personal experience to bring you realistic, holistic health advice.

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1

In contrast to what was found in the overview of the ‘11 studies’, there have been a number of other studies which have found either no risk associated, or up to 30-40% lower risk of cardiovascular mortality from increased amounts of dietary calcium.

2

Health World Ltd’s position paper highlights that vitamin D is important for calcium metabolism, that calcium and even moderate Vitamin D supplementation reduces cardiovascular risk. This paper also considers that the form of calcium may be important. Metagenics uses calcium hydroxyapetite, from natural bone extract providing a mixed form of calcium with co factors.

3

The Vitamin D serum levels of subjects from 7 out of 11 trials were measured.  The average level was 62 nmol/L which is less than optimal (100 nmol/L is optimal).

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