Calcium: It's not just about bones

Yes, calcium is important to building powerful, strong bones.  However, it’s not just about bones. Calcium confers other key benefits.

Calcium can help keep your weight down. 

If you’re overweight, you may not be getting enough calcium.  Why? This is because of how your body responds to a calcium deficit.

When you are calcium deficient, your body goes into starvation mode, releasing parathyroid hormone from four glands in your neck. Parathyroid hormone stimulates your bones to release calcium into your bloodstream.

Additionally, your kidneys also deliver a dose of a hormone called calcitriol, a form of vitamin D, to increase your ability to absorb calcium.

Problems arise because parathyroid hormone and calcitriol also stimulate the production of fat and inhibit its breakdown. When this happens, your body wants to store fat and it will hold on to it stubbornly, even if you’re counting calories.

But a high calcium intake suppresses these hormones so your body stores less fat and also breaks it down much more effectively.  Calcium from low-fat or nonfat dairy products assists weight loss the most.

Calcium also protects your heart.

When you don’t have enough calcium in your body, you are more likely to have high blood pressure.  Why?  This happens because your hormonal system releases calcitriol in response to a calcium shortage.  Calcitriol acts on the smooth muscle walls of your arteries, constricting them and elevating your blood pressure.

According to the latest research, your calcium intake may be almost as important to blood pressure as your sodium intake.  An adequate supply of calcium helps your muscles--including your heart muscle—to contract and to relax. Calcium also appears to help your nervous system regulate the level of pressure in your arteries.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a healthy diet that included two to three servings a day of low-fat, calcium-rich dairy foods like yogurt reduced systolic blood pressure by 5.5 points more than the control diet, and reduced diastolic blood pressure by 3 points more.

An excellent way to supplement your calcium intake is with EnergyFirst Coral Calcium Supreme which contains 1,000 mg. of calcium.