Calcium & Heart Attacks

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Here’s the question:
Does taking a daily calcium food supplement increase our chances of a heart attack by 30%?

Some of you have seen the press coverage in the Daily Express on 30th July this year, putting the nutritional food supplement industry in the spotlight once again. Following recent trials, the Express article questions the wisdom of taking daily, regular calcium supplements which the food supplements industry rightfully reminds us is good for our bones and has been recommended for years.

While the aims of those trials remain unclear, we can assume that most people who volunteerd had health concerns before they agreed to take part and the level of daily calcium consumed would be a key factor. If the trials themselves were ‘cherry-picked’ as has been suggested by an industry spokesperson, then we really need to know more about what the trials were initially investigating? Could the group have had problematic heart function or associated health issues at the start? We cannot know without delving further into the studies.

A spokesperson for the industry also states that we don’t get enough calcium from our diet. This, in our view, is incorrect. The average Briton’s diet delivers a daily average of 960mg of calcium from food sources alone and the recommended daily intake (RDA) is 800mg, (source: National Food Survey, DEFRA, 2000).

But, there’s no smoke without fire!

It is true that most heart attack victims suffer from some form of furring of the arteries (calcification), so one might question the benefit of adding a calcium supplement to a diet we already know has adequate calcium. It’s also well documented that calcium is a contractor of muscle, the heart being the most important muscle, while magnesium is a relaxant. But, interestingly, we don’t get optimum levels of magnesium from the average British Diet, calculated at 267mg per day and yet we have an RDA minimum for health of 375mg, (source: National Food Survey DEFRA 2000). http://updates.nutrigold.co.uk/info/detail/citrizorb_magnesium_is_still_the_best_buy

The importance of a well alkalised body

Naturopaths consider that if you have an alkaline body, well hydrated and cleansed, you don’t normally have excess acidity in the body, so there’s no need for the body to add or leave out calcium to reduce the acidity. Please see ‘Preventing osteoporosis, Strengthening Bone Density’, and Newsletter titled ‘The Wherewithal t o Detoxify’.

The ‘form’ of the nutritional mineral provides insight

It is so important to understand the form in which these nutrients are offered. Most mass produced calcium supplements are produced from a cheap form of calcium called calcium carbonate, also known as ‘chalk’. (That’s right: inorganic ROCK!!). We don’t tend to eat chalk in our diets … so it’s no surprise then to hear that while chalk is a highly concentrated source of calcium, it is also very poorly absorbed. What’s far more worrying about calcium carbonate is that it also acts as an antacid, reducing the stomach’s acid and so potentially reducing our ability to break down our food and absorb key nutrients, potentially setting up a vicious circle of mal-absorption!

So much for calcium supplements, but what about magnesium? On the rare occasion when the industry does add some form of magnesium, it’s once again another inorganic mineral, ‘magnesium oxide’ … poorly absorbed by the body and better known for its laxative effects! Added to this, too often supplements contain twice the level of calcium to magnesium, (see Newsletter on ‘The British Diet’). To find out more about ‘mineral absorption ’ see Dr Plaskett’s Newsletter: ‘ The Truth About Your Mineral Supplementation ’, an exacting piece of scientific research that discounts these forms of inorganic nutrients on Page 1, or look at our Education Newsletter, No. 3.

The label never gives the whole picture: you must achieve the right balance of magnesium and calcium at cell level.
The point we are trying to make here is that at cellular level you need to create a good balance of magnesium and calcium. Precisely because we have an abundance of calcium in our diet and relatively low levels of magnesium, we recommend a supplementary ratio of 2-1 in favour of magnesium. However, when addressing the important balance of these nutrients it’s vital to use an easily absorbed, organic mineral form, recognised by the body’s natural processes and absorbing at approximately the same rate. It is the balance in the cell that matters, not the claim on a product label. http://updates.nutrigold.co.uk/info/detail/simply_magnesium

Are we losing the traditional wisdom of our naturopathic forefathers?

It’s also worth noting that the practice of adding more and more calcium to the body comes from a poor grasp of naturopathy. Naturopaths address the overall nutritional balance, rather than handling each symptom as if it were an illness, like treating a lack of bone density by loading the sufferer with calcium or Vitamin D.

In recent years the nutritional health profession has become more and more divided in its philosophy and teachings. The division lands between those we consider to have an ‘orthodox’ nutritionist’s approach and those traditionally trained and more holistically minded nutritional practitioners, often FNTP members www.fntp.org.uk who tend to look at the whole body and try and keep things in their natural balance.

I hope you have enjoyed our input on this controversial subject and do feel free to email us talk2us@nutrigold.co.uk or telephone: 0845 603 5675. There will be further updates as we learn more about these subjects.

Should you want to know more about our online course please log on to www.nutrigold.co.uk

Assuring you of our best attention at all times.

Yours sincerely
Andrew Wren

Managing Director
Nutrigold Ltd

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