Magnesium, typically 350-500 mg per day and potassium can help lower blood pressure. The results are particularly effective in people who are taking “depleting diuretic” medication.
Pregnancy-related High Blood Pressure
Calcium also plays a role in the etiology, prevention and treatment of pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH). The precise factors involved in its causes are unclear, but several alterations in clacium metabolim have been identified suggesting an inverse correlation between dietary calcium intake and incidence of PIH. Evidence suggest a possible beneficial effect of supplemental calcium for pregnant women, especially teens.
Calcium supplementation during pregnancy can increase the intake in those with a deficiency or can provide a pharmacologic effect in individuals with an adequate calcium intake. Asystematic review examined randomized, double-blind, controlled trials of calcium supplemmentation during pregnancy. On the basis of the results of the five randomized trials available, the risk of high blood pressure was lower in woen with low baseline dietary calcium (900 mg intake per day). These results show that calcium supplementation during pregnancy for women with deficient calcium intake is a promising preventive strategy.
In a study at the University of Florida Health Science Center in Jacksonville, researchers found that 2,000 mg of calcium a day reduced the onset of high blood pressure in pregnant women by 54%.
Muscles and Nerves
Calcium deficiency increases risk for muscle cramps and restless-leg syndrome. Giving a mineral supplement with high amounts of calcium to growing children who are experiencing leg pain can quickly bring relief to them.
Calcium is vitally important when it comes to properly functioning muscles. Contraction and relaxation of muscle tissues depends on the presence of calcium. Calcium ions inside our cellsmove from one spot to another very quickly. This change the electical charge of certain proteins in the muscle cell so that the proteins change shape. These proteins tighten up and in effect, pass alongthe tightening action to increase the tension.
As proteins shorten the muscle cells, the muscle contracts. When the calcium ions move back to their former positions, the proteins racket down from their state of peak tension, and the muscle relaxes. I you have too little calcium in the cells, however, the musclecells tend to stay in the tightened position and you’ll become more prone to muscle cramps.
Along with other electrically aggressive minerals like potassium, calcium also allows our nerves to transmit messages. Because the electrically charged calcium ions in the cells rapidly shift position, an electrical charge is handed along the chain of nerve cells. The results is that a small electrical current travels along the nerve. Once the current reaches the end of the nerve, it triggers the release of a neurotransmitter, a chemical that allows the message to be relayed to another cell.
In the heart, calcium’s role in both muscle contraction and nerve transmission comes into play.Calcium continually interacts with potassium and sodium in a carefully orchestrated sequence to produce a heartbeat. You would have to be seriously ill to be so low on calcium that it affects your heart, but it does happen. Doctors sometimes use drugs called calcium channel blockers to slow down and regulate heartbeat in people with high blood pressure. These drugs temper the shift of calcium in and out of cells.
Note: If you are experiencing muscle cramps and are supplementing only calcium and not receiving relief, be sure to try a broad spectrum mineral supplement high in not only calcium, but also magnesium and potassium.
Cancer
Cancer is associated with anaerobic (deficiency of oxygen) conditions, resulting in the fermentation of glucoseinto lactic acid causing a marked drop in cellular pH. As a buffering agent, calcium (if available in the body in adequate amounts) can reduce acidity by increasing the pH of a cell from 7.4 to 8.5. In this enviroment, cancer cells die (while healthy cells thrive) as they cannot survive in an enviroment outside the range of 6.6-7.4. Thus, healthy, slightly alkaline cell conditions do not allow cancerous cells to exist.
Colon Cancer
Calcium may also play a role in preventing colon cancer. Calcium in the colon acts as a protective agent by binding with cancer promoting agents such as fatty acids and bile acids, the digestive fluids secreted by the liver. The toxic effects are neutralized and they are excreted more rapidly, along with intestinal cells that might be cancer generators. This protects the epithelial lining of the intestinal tract.
Calcium also helps to prevent the absorption of toxic minerals such as lead by interfering with cellular transport. Unfortunately, it can interfere with minerals that we may need more of, such as iron, zinc, copper and manganese. That’s why calcium supplements are recommended at mealtime (and not after meals when fiber supplements are recommended).
Breast Cancer
Decreased calcium and Vitamin D intake and high dietary fat are associated with breast cancer. Decreased dietary calcium and Vitamin D in a high-fat diet induce adverse changes in the mammary glands and several other organs which can be reversed by increaseing dietary calcium and Vitamin D. This suggests a possible role for increased dietary calcium and Vitamin D in chemoprevention of these cancers.
Additional Info Links on Cancer:
The Physiology of Cancer Cells
Foods
Insomnia
Calcium is essential for the nervous system. A minor deficiency often causes insomnia as calcium is needed to release the amino acid tryptophan which is involved in the synthesis of the sleep hormone, melatonin.
Sleep studies show that there is a relationship between sleep, calcium and parathyroid hormone (PTH). Total plasma calcium was significantly related to cycles of rapid eye movement sleep and to cycles of stage 2 sleep. PTH and calcium were significantly interrelated. PTH and calcium were more closely related to sleep stages than to each other. These results suggest that the regulation of PTH and calcium is complex and may involve interactions with the nervous system.
