So what is the role of calcium that circulates in the blood?

Posted in Supplements, Vits, Mins & More

Calcium acts as our body’s neutralizer, ensuring balance between acid/alkaline.

When we eat too many acid-forming foods. When I say ‘acid forming foods’ I don’t mean foods like lemons (which incidentally are neutralizing, they are alkaline forming in the body). I am referring to the effect food has on our bodies once it have been eaten and digested. Generally, plant foods are alkaline forming (a few can be acid forming) and animal products in general are acid forming foods to varying degrees. So if you are continually eating acid forming foods, you are constantly forcing your bones to leach out calcium in order to keep the pH of the blood balanced. Also a substance that is very acid forming is sugar and most people consume plenty everyday.

So our first step is to reduce our acid levels, this will stop so much calcium being used from our bones. Number one on the list is pork then beef then lamb and chicken. A 67kg or 10½ stone person needs no more than 40gm or 1½oz of protein a day. It is estimated that for every 10g of extra protein we eat a100mg of calcium, is lost in our urine.

The link between high protein intake and calcium loss has been known to scientists for over 50 years. One of many studies took a group of 1,600 women and found that the vegetarians among them had only 18 per cent bone mass loss compared to 35 per cent bone mass loss by meat eaters. I am not suggesting you need to become a vegetarian, as that would be simplifying the situation. Vegetarians can still eat too much sugar or drink too much coffee etc.

In general it has been found that vegetarians are more health conscious than meat eaters, that there are many aspects to their diets that differ not just the fact that they do or do not eat meat.

Can we get too much of a good thing? We have all heard how we all need more calcium. Yet there is a very real danger of taking too much. We end up with large amounts circulating in the blood stream, creating a very real chance of it being dumped in places other than the bones. What do I mean by this? Excess calcium can form painful kidney or gallstones or calcification of soft tissue as your bodies begin to stiffen up, or it can cause arteriosclerosis. I am not suggesting that excess calcium is the sole cause of these problems but it is certainly a component.

We are told that osteoporosis has reached epidemic proportions!