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Introduction

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body. It primarily functions in your body to make your bones and teeth hard. The remaining is in your blood and soft tissues; it helps your nervous system work properly. Calcium is also important for our heart, thyroid, immune system, energy production and for cellular maintenance. It helps regulate heartbeat and is necessary for muscle contraction and allows blood to clot.
Calcium definiencies are linked to a number of health problems including high blood pressure, cancer of the colon, cancer of the breast, osteoporosis and atherosclerosis.
On average, our diets provide only half of the 1,000-1,500 mgs. daily calcium currently recommended by the National Institutes of Health; new government guidelines are expected to adjust this dose to 2,500 mg. To make sure you get enough calcium, a calcium supplement may be needed, but choosing one can be difficult. Hopefully, the information here will clear up some of the confusion.
Many of our lifestyle choices, including high sugar intake, high protein (especially meat), excess caffeine and phosphoric acid (found in soda pop), some prescription drugs, and both the lack of exercise and its excessive practice, undermine our calcium stores.
Fossilized Coral is an excellent source of usable calcium for the body. Fossilized Coral actually contains over 70 different minerals and trace minerals (all which are needed by the body), calcium is in the highest concentration. It has been used therapeutically since the 15th century to promote health in Eastern cultures.

Calcium: What You Need to Know

When the subject of calcium comes up, milk inevitably is brought up. Research indicates that while the public largely believes milk and dairy products to be a primary source of dietary calcium, they may actually be an insufficient source. Even further, dairy products may even work to decrease calcium levels in the body. This may surprise many people as the diary industry has done an excellent job of snowballing the public to believing that drinking milk is the answer to all one’s calcium needs.
The Daily Value (DV) for calcium for healthy men and women is 1,000 mg. The actual amount of calcium an individual needs actually varies. Calcium needs increase with age. Women who have passed menopause need at least 1,500 mg daily. Calcium absorption diminishes as we grow older due to a number of reasons including hormonal and digestive.
Vegetarians who tend to consume a “less acidic” diet do not require as much calcium as meat eaters. High protein foods, such as meat, are acid-forming which requires the body to neutralize the low or acidic pH of the body’s fluids. The body does this with calcium. If necessary, it will remove calcium from our bones to do this. This calcium is then excreted in the urine.
Calcium definiciences do occur but it is not known for certain whether definiciences are due entirely to inadequate intake, or a combination of factors which cause diminished absorption and utilization of the calcium we consume in our foods.
Imbalances may be created from a variety of factors. I suspect it often is a combination of all these things. This theory suggests that supplementation of calcium alone would not solve the problem. Studies also support this. Simply supplementing calcium will not solve the problem of osteoporosis.
As calcium is very important to our overall health, the body will attempt to regulate calcium levels in the blood, even if this means sacrificing bone. Because of this, laboratory blood tests will usually indicate that calcium and phosphorus levels are normal.

The calcium intake of adults living in the stone age is estimated at three to five times the average calcium intake of U.S adults living today. Long-term calcium restriction and/or insufficient Vitamin D may promote the development of bone fragility, high blood pressure, colon cancer and breast cancer in susceptible individuals. Conversely, improvement in calcium intake and Vitamin D status may help to prevent these serious health problems. (Barger-Lux)

Assimilation
Calcium absorption and assimilation by the body is not always easy. The calcium we take in through foods or supplements won’t do us much good if it can not be easily digested or assimilated. Once it enters the blood stream, its value will be limited by the availability of important calcium co-factors. We can not hope to maintain or restore strong healthy bones without them.
Proper stomach acidity is required for calcium to disolve. If you are not sure you have adequate stomach acidity, try taking your calcium supplement with one tablespoon of vinegar mixed with one tablespoon of honey or with a hydrochloric acid supplement. Sometimes it may be better to chew the tablets to help break them down.
Plant sources of calcium tend to be much easier to absorb by the body than dairy sources. Meat and dairy products are high in phosphorus and protein, which are detrimental to calcium levels in the body. Phosphorus interferes with calcium availability and protein increases calcium excretion.

Calcium Co-factors
In order to absorb and assimilate calcium (and other important minerals) for good bone health. Vitamins A, D and C, and magnesium are necessary. A diet too high in cholesterol makes it difficult for the body to assimilate the fat-soluble Vitamin A and D.
Vitamin D mineralizes the skeleton by elevating calcium and phosphorus in the blood. It works with the parathyroid hormone to stimulate absorption in the intestinal tract and to increase renal reabsorption of calcium in the distal tubules.
As we grow older, our ability to produce Vitamin D diminishes. Vitamin D-3 supplementation (4,000 IU daily) aids postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Larger amounts (7,500 IU daily) have shown better results, but may also be associated with the increased risk of hypercalcemia (elevated calcium levels) and possible kidney stones.
Magnesium is very important for calcium to be used by the body, and especially the bones as it acts like a gate keeper.

Note: Supplementing the hormone pregnenolone is a safe precursor to testosterone, progesterone, and the estrogens, 50-100 mg daily.
According to the American Heart Association, studies show that vegetarians absorb and retain more calcium from foods than do non-vegetarians

Mineral Balancing
One of the basic principles of nutrition is that no nutrient ever works alone. Calcium is by no means an exception to this rule. Calcium needs to be balanced with other minerals according to the ratios as they are present in the body.
Mineral imbalances are the underlying cause of many of our health troubles. The body contains over 70 minerals
All nutrients in the body, especially the minerals, operate in a biochemical symphony. It is the combination of these elements (in the correct proportions) that allows the body to function harmoniously. If there is a lack of an abundance of any particular substance, problems result.
For example, the four main minerals in our body, calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium, regulate the two areas of critical importance in the body, the thyroid and adrenal glands. If these four minerals are not at normal levels, and everything else is in balance, these glands can function optimally.