Should I take Calcium?

Most calcium supplements on the market are just plain bad news. The idea of taking calcium to “keep the bones strong” just doesn’t make that much sense given, first, that we are designed to get our calcium from food. Second, our bone is a living tissue, which requires vitamin C, amino acids, magnesium, silica, vitamins D and K, etc., not to mention regular physical activity, just as much as it does calcium. Taking calcium to the exclusion of these other critical factors doesn’t make sense; nor does it make sense to look at osteoporosis as a deficiency of calcium supplements!

However, there ARE times when taking exogenous calcium is a good idea. When there is evidence of bone loss, whether osteoporosis or metastasis of cancer to bone, the correct choice of a supplement is very important.

Importants points:

• Calcium should be taken as a WHOLE FOOD or bound the same as it is in food
• Calcium supplementation should NOT exceed 500mg/day even if in correct form
• Calcium should be balanced with other minerals and nutrients from a good diet
• Calcium should be combine with the correct type of Vitamin K2
• Osteoporosis is an inflammatory disease not a deficiency disease
• Taking Fosamax or other similar Bisphosphonate-type drug to prevent bone loss does NOT work

As I have said extensively in the past, most calcium supplements are made from DIRT. Not only is consuming limestone, indigestible bone, and the shells of oysters and eggs not a good idea because the calcium can deposit in our soft tissues leading to heart attacks and strokes, but even the goal of maintaining bones as dense as a 25-year old late into life (known as the T-score) is fraught with danger, including a far higher breast cancer risk for those with the highest bone density.

Instead of pathologizing aging, and focusing on making the bone denser by any means necessary, the focus should be on bone quality and agility and bodily self-awareness late into life, which helps the elderly prevent the falls that lead to fracture in the first place. In other words, simply having a gait or vision disorder can be at least as an important factor in fracture risk as bone mineral density.

The problem with poor quality, inorganic, calcium supplements, however, does not stop with their contribution to cardiovascular disease risk. A combination of factors including low magnesium, vitamin K2 and the presence of fluoride in the water and diet can lead to pineal gland calcification, as well as the calcification of other brain structures, which recently has been hypothesized to be a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease.

The best, current source of Calcium and K2 is a product called Osteo-K.