Several clinical trials have discovered an 18-70% increased risk of vascular and cardiac events from daily intake of calcium supplements and high calcium dietary sources.
This subject is more serious than meets the eye. Pay close attention to the results of the several studies referenced below.
We face enough challenges from the recent medical experimentation on the public without adding complications from a well intended attempt to sustain one's health with what has been believed to be helpful nutraceutical supplements.
The biological science and results of multiyear clinical trials make this very clear.
Topics in this article include:
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Question: We are told that in order to prevent osteoporosis we should take 1,200 - 1,500 mgs of calcium and half that of magnesium, plus vitamin D for absorption. If I am taking a good superfood blend and I maintain a good diet, do I need to continue taking my Cal/Mag & Vitamin D supplements?
Response: An excellent question regarding the vast array of health options presented to us today.
This is a common concern, particularly among those of us who have been taught that what we need in order to create or maintain health is a particular amount of specific minerals or vitamins or other isolated nutritional compounds (calcium, magnesium, iron, vitamin A, B, C, D, etc).
This advice is an outgrowth of the antiquated megavitamin era that is still being taught and practiced in certain health circles today.
While that era was helpful in that it made us aware of the benefits of some of the various components found within plants and clays and other natural resources, we are rapidly moving toward an era of a deeper understanding of how Mother Nature originally provided for the human being long before allopathic medicine and the megavitamin age were given the spotlight.
In comparison, here is a classic example to keep in mind as you read about the results of studies documenting the effects of the long term use of what I term "fragmentary medicine", relative to the power of Nature's original wholesome healing resources:
The Ocean Water, Seaweed Juice, and Lymph Fluid Connection
It may be surprising to learn that diluted ocean water and human lymph fluids have very close to the same mineral composition.
Various sea vegetables possess many other nutritional properties in addition to ocean salts, especially when consumed in conjunction with coconut water, that provide the body with numerous beneficial effects, including the ability to improve blood alkalinity, rehydration, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-aging, anti-cancer, anti-melanogenic, and general restorative properties.
Dr. Rene’ Quinton discovered that a diluted, purified, and sterilized version of pure seawater used as a complete replacement for blood allowed the natural biology of a dog to rebuild its full red blood cell count within four days. The dog continued to live another five happy years.
There is no synthetic compound, isolated nutrient, or other fragment of a whole food that is capable of accomplishing such an astounding feat!
Some WW2 Japanese soldiers went to the ocean to consume seaweed after being wounded, knowing that this practice would quickly rebuild their blood volume. This basic wisdom precedes the advent of megavitamin therapy by thousands of years.
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Sea Vegetable Blend plus Moringa is our solution for getting a spectrum of nutrient-dense vegetables from the ocean.
Fragments of whole foods common to the megavitamin world, and the toxic synthetic medicinal compounds typical of the allopathic world, are simply unable to provide the body with the balanced nutrition it needs to heal itself naturally.
Only wholesome natural substances, unaltered from their original state, are able to properly address the thousands of nutritional and energetic requirements of this extremely complex natural organism called “the human body”.
“Fragmentary Medicine” or Whole Foods?
Chemical allopathic medicine and megavitamin therapy have been developing their “medicines” now for less than 300 years, with their “most advanced” approaches being developed within the last 70 years or so.
Mother Nature has been at the business of developing health products now for over 5 billion years! She has more experience, and her resources are not only more comprehensive, but more compatible with the human body. She has earned our trust!
Whole seaweeds, algae, phytoplankton, sea salt, herbs, medicinal mushrooms, clays, humic/fulvic substances, bee products, cultured foods, deep, underground aquifer water, sunlight, highly ionized evergreen forest air, qigong type exercises (providing primal ionic nutritional substances, known as prana), and self-grown garden produce are the most effective healing resources known for the human body. They abundantly provide the balanced nutrition and energetic support the body needs to simply heal itself.
Do We Really Need to Supplement?
Quite frankly, there are exceptions to every rule, and there are times where supplementation can be helpful in the short term, but typically not the long term---unless the supplementation is in the form of superfoods, clay, and other whole earthen sources.
The world of supplementation will never be able to compare to the multidimensional qualities that Nature has provided within earthen resources.
Here is some clear proof of this premise, and why:
A 2012 study in Japan summarizes the legitimate concerns around one of the most common isolated nutrients taken for bone health---calcium supplementation:
Although there are biologically plausible mechanisms by which calcium supplements reduce bone loss and lower rate of vertebral fracture in older persons, recent studies failed to demonstrate the effects of calcium supplements to reduce fracture risk. In addition, either observational or interventional studies showed that calcium supplements were associated with increase in myocardial infarction (heart attack). Taken together, the reassessment of the role of calcium supplements for the prevention of osteoporosis and fracture should be warranted. (emphasis added)
Keep in mind a few important roles of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorous that go far beyond being simply minerals needed to strengthen bones and teeth.
1) Calcium is used by the body to contract muscles (including the heart muscle).
2) Magnesium is used to relax muscles.
3) When calcium excess overpowers the role of magnesium, the heart muscle contracts but does not relax sufficiently, which can lead to a heart attack or irregular heart beat.
4) Potassium is used to expand the arteries and lower blood pressure.
5) Low potassium levels can cause muscle weakness, arrhythmias, and even paralysis. On the other hand, high potassium levels can cause palpitations and potentially lead to a heart attack.
6) Phosphorous is central to the construction of the ATP molecule (adenosine triphosphate) responsible for the energy production that powers all reactions within each cell of the body. Phosphorous is also more critical to bone and teeth hardening than calcium.
7) If your phosphate levels are too high, it can remove calcium from your bones and blood in an attempt to balance out the excessive levels by bonding with it, which can then make the bones and teeth brittle.
8) If your phosphate levels are too low it can cause cellular ATP depletion that can result in skeletal muscle weakness, respiratory muscle weakness, and cardiac muscle weakness that can lead to heart failure.
9) Carbonated beverages, fast foods, and packaged, preprocessed foods are the primary dietary sources of phosphorous excess (which is added to these harmful dietary sources and can lead to brittle bones and tooth decay).
5) An excess of calcium from supplements or diet (meat and dairy, for instance), can over power the effects of other regulating minerals, and disrupt heart or vascular function, in addition to bone density.
7) Calcium is also taken from the bones to alkalize the blood when acidic substances like flesh foods, sugar, coffee, carbonated drinks, tomatoes, etc. are consumed, at times when sufficient alkalizing resources (seaweed, algae, green vegetables, alkalizing, non-citrus fruits, etc.) are not present in sufficient amounts to counter these acidifying effect.
8) Most importantly, excessive amounts of calcium in the blood from supplements can actually lead to brittle bones, not stronger bones, as studies have proven! More on this below.
The Mayo Clinic outlines other areas of health that can be affected by an excess of calcium in the blood (direct quote):
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Kidneys. Excess calcium makes the kidneys work harder to filter it. This can cause serious thirst and frequent urination.
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Digestive system. Hypercalcemia can cause stomach upset or pain, vomiting, and constipation.
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Bones and muscles. Most often, the extra calcium in the blood [has been] leached from the bones [for other reasons]. This weakens the bones. It can cause bone pain and muscle weakness.
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Brain. Hypercalcemia can affect how the brain works. That can lead to trouble focusing, confusion, drowsiness and fatigue. It also can cause depression.
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Heart. Rarely [?], serious hypercalcemia can affect the heart. It can cause feelings of a fast-beating, fluttering or pounding heart. It also can cause the heart to beat out of rhythm. It's linked with other heart-related conditions as well.
Here are the studies that originally brought this concern to the forefront:
A “Stop and Rethink the Megavitamin Therapy Position” Study from New Zealand
A major New Zealand study in 2008, designed to determine the effect of calcium supplementation on cardiovascular events [specifically, death, sudden death, myocardial infarction, angina, other chest pain, stroke, transient ischaemic attack, and a composite end point of myocardial infarction, being stroke, or sudden death] over five years in healthy postmenopausal women, found that taking calcium supplementation raises your risk for heart attacks, strokes, and sudden death, and does nothing noteworthy for osteoporosis.
Since this 2008 study, vested interests in the meat, dairy, and nutraceutical industries have sought to produce their own studies proving the opposite, and with some degree of success. Buffaloing the public for profit is an art form today.
Yet, the New Zealand study above was focused only on the ingestion of a 1,000 mg calcium citrate supplement for 5 years compared to the placebo group.
A 2010 metadata study also confirmed the New Zealand findings (metadata studies investigate all available research on the subject to date to draw conclusions).
It is already accepted that calcium supplements increase vascular risk in patients with renal compromise, even in those not yet requiring dialysis.
Also, there is substantial epidemiological evidence that serum calcium levels in the upper part of the normal range are a risk factor for vascular disease, and that calcium supplements acutely elevate serum calcium - a combination of findings that lends plausibility to supplementation increasing vascular risk.
As there are reasonable grounds for doubting the safety of calcium supplements, and as the evidence for their efficacy in fracture prevention remains marginal, we suggest that there should be a reappraisal of their role in the management of osteoporosis, with a greater emphasis on agents known to prevent fractures. (emphasis added)
Another metadata study concluded:
It is estimated by a meta-analysis (including eleven randomized controlled trials) that calcium supplements have up to 30% increase risk for myocardial infarction [heart attack].
But make a note here that additional calcium from the diet and sunlight(which can compound this imbalance) is not factored in with these studies, which will be discussed in other studies and personal experiences further below.
The studies above compared placebo or non-supplement groups with a group that took calcium supplements for a period of time. The "increased risk" indicates that there is a set risk of about 128% (54 events among 42 women) among the non-supplement population.
Therefore, taking calcium supplements increases your risk an additional 18% (101 events out of 69 women = about 146%. 146-128 = 18.).
If you fail to consider the significance of these results further, you might miss that the study is assuming that a 128% incidence of vascular/heart events is normal for an aging population, meaning, if 2000 people are studied, half of which are the placebo group of 1000 volunteers, then the placebo group would be expected to experience a "normal" rate of 1280 vascular and coronary events of a serious nature.
This means, that based on the national or group average, it is "normal" to expect to see 128 cardiac events of various kinds out of every 100 people.
Therefore, the study is suggesting that taking calcium supplements could lead to a risk that is 18% higher than "normal", or 146 vascular and coronary events of a serious nature out of every 100 people. (What has happened in our "modern" society that has made such unfathomable statistics to be considered "normal???)
Keep in mind here that zero coronary and vascular incidents is the true normal (common among indigenous tribes consuming a low meat/moderate fat/high starch diet).
Therefore, 1 or more vascular events is a sign that the diet or lifestyle of that 1 is out of balance.
Of course, we all have issues related to diet, toxicities, medication, environment, etc. This is the nature of our "modern" society revealing the inherent state of imbalance we were born into. Each individual decides for him or herself the willingness and commitment to improve on these conditions.
What is at stake is simply one's personal choice of longevity and quality of life.
BTW, this is not a judgment, nor is "the best" a requirement for one to fulfill one's own select life purpose. In some cases the experience of illness, disability, or poor health can be built into one's original agreement during this life. We will, however, in the afterlife, simply be asked what we learned from these experiences, and where would we like to go from here?
So, What About Dietary Calcium?
I know from personal experience, that when I spend several hours in the sun on the same days that I consume high calcium foods, like raw cheese, (I no longer consume flesh food or fresh milk, but do have my own chickens for eggs) and if I do not compensate for the extra vitamin D in my system (therefore extra calcium in the blood) with additional magnesium and potassium sources (Ancient Mineral Blend, sea vegetables, potatoes. etc.), then I tend to get restless leg and cramps more readily, which is easily resolved in a matter of 5 minutes with the above additions to my diet.
It is nutrient balance that is far more important than mega-doses of isolated nutrients. More is not always better, certainly not in the long run. Possibly short term in emergencies, but not daily.
Sayer Ji of Green Med Info in 2012 in his article How Too Much Calcium Can Break Your Bones revealed how unfermented dairy and calcium supplements can result in brittle bones:
In the Harvard Nurses' Health Study, a review tracking almost 78,000 female nurses aged between 34 and 59 years of age for 12 years found that the more cow's milk they consumed, the higher rate of bone fracture they experienced; in the study, the relative risk of hip fracture was 45% higher in those women who drank two or more glasses of milk per day versus those who drank one glass or less.
In the authors’ own words: “Data does not support the hypothesis that higher consumption of milk or other food sources of calcium by adult women protects against hip or forearm fractures.” (Source: Feskanich D, Willett WC, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA. Milk, dietary calcium, and bone fractures in women: a 12-year prospective study. American Journal of Public Health. 1997).
Another study, which analyzed cardiovascular health of 23,980 participants of the Heidelberg cohort in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, aged 35-64, users of calcium-only supplements had a 70% increased heart attack risk.14
A recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, based on a review of randomized controlled trials, said that there’s not enough evidence to recommend postmenopausal women take supplements to prevent fractures.15 Therefore, to promote bone health, calcium intake should come from food sources instead.
The studies referenced above are simply demonstrating that a high calcium diet and megavitamin therapy can be complicit in further increasing an imbalance in the internal biological terrain.
The finding that cardiovascular diseases increase with calcium supplementation is not necessarily surprising, as calcium supplements, under common conditions, contribute to elevated serum calcium levels along with increased cardiovascular calcification over time (especially when the diet includes a phosphate excess, which largely comes from processed food), both of which are predictive of cardiovascular event rates.
An Excess of Meat & Dairy Can Result in the Same Problems
In fact, science of today is even acknowledging the harmful effects of an excess of calcium from meat and dairy as well:
How Can This Be?
Calcium supplementation is only one example.
We have been taught since the days of Adelle Davis that megavitamin therapy is the way to go. Yet, I hear almost daily from people who have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars for many years -- even decades -- on what I call "fragmentary health products" (isolates and extracts, only fragments of Nature's whole food resources).
These same fragments are commonly recommended by some of the best Naturopaths, Acupuncturists, Chiropractors, Nutritional Consultants, and product manufacturers, yet these sincere clients remain sick, battling with an ongoing series of hormonal, nutritional, toxicity, and organ/gland imbalances for years while taking these very fragmentary substances. (I know this to be true as a general rule, having spoken to hundreds of them.)
How can this be? The reason is obvious -- vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that are only fragments of their original whole food source are inherently imbalanced and deficient.
They do not contain all of the other nutritional components that Nature knew were necessary to make such nutrients function properly in the human body.
Fragments of whole foods do not function in the body the same as the original, whole food itself with all of its multidimensional attributes build into them by Nature.
Lessons from Original Whole Food Cultures
The cultures of today which still live in a more natural habitat, such as the Hunzas, the Okinawans, and the aboriginal tribes of Australia, South America, and Mexico, maintain their health and vitality long into their late 80's, 90's, and 100's, partly because they live close to Nature, and partly because they grow their own food, or eat from the wild, maintain an active lifestyle, and follow their life purpose.
Those cultures do not need megavitamins because they get all of their nutritional requirements from whole herbs, cultured foods, mineral-rich water sources, and foods grown on mineral-rich soils from crops watered with mineral-rich water, or grown wild.
So what is it about these original food sources that give these exceptional cultures their health and longevity even late in life, while America struggles to keep up (being listed an embarrassing 69th in the world for quality of health) and the average American starts showing signs of physical degeneration long before puberty?
For one, whole foods, fresh herbs, and low temp dried clays are nutritionally balanced. Nature made them this way for our benefit.
In truth, it is not nutritional abundance that counts, but nutritional balance that brings health to the human body. More is not always better.
The megavitamin philosophy attempts to create a semblance of balance by suggesting half as much magnesium as calcium (while others reverse that ratio), then goes on to say that if you take some vitamin D with it, it will assimilate even better.
But, in the same breath, do they clue you in to the other minerals that influence, or are influenced by, calcium and magnesium?
Integrated Mineral Balance
Calcium activity in the body is influenced by, not just magnesium, but phosphorous, chromium, iron, sulfur, fluoride, zinc, manganese, and copper.
Iron activity in the body is influenced by aluminum, copper, manganese, iodine, zinc, phosphorous, and cobalt, in addition to calcium and magnesium.
Phosphorus activity is influenced by iron, sodium, beryllium, aluminum, copper, manganese, molybdenum, zinc, as well as calcium and magnesium.
Copper activity is influenced by silver, cadmium, iron, phosphorous, sulfur, molybdenum, potassium, mercury, zinc, as well as calcium and magnesium.
Magnesium is involved in over 300 metabolic processes in the body, yet is suppressed by the abundance of calcium.
Due to these delicate balancing relationships between all of the minerals naturally found in whole foods and herbs, or earthen resources like clays, humic substances, and original sea salt, giving the body an unnatural abundance of one or two minerals can indirectly initiate a chain reaction of detrimental effects on the usability of many other minerals and hundreds of metabolic functions throughout the body.
Could this be one of the reasons why health has deteriorated so seriously in America, given the mistaken belief that vitamin and mineral supplementation will promote our health?
A Balance of Ratios
The point is, too much of any one mineral can throw off the availability, or workability, of several other minerals, because the entire list of 70+ minerals are interrelated. Sometimes they work for each other and sometimes they work against each other, simply to counter excesses. They function as both antagonists and protagonists within their own group -- the mineral kingdom.
This entire interrelationship is based on ratios. Too much calcium cancels out magnesium. Too much magnesium can result in difficulty breathing, excessively low blood pressure, and an irregular heartbeat. Too much phosphorous draws calcium from the bones, causing brittle bones. There are numerous examples of this principle already known about within human biology.
What counts in the mineral kingdom is not a mineral abundance, but a mineral balance of ratios.
The Basic Building Blocks of Nature
Minerals, metals, and gasses are the building blocks of hormones, vitamins, enzymes, cells, and amino acids. They are the building blocks of the DNA itself. Minerals, metals, and gasses, of one kind or another, are required for virtually every metabolic function in the body.
Do we dare consume less than the most comprehensive spectrum of mineral and nutritional complexes that Nature can provide? Do we dare alter the delicate balance of mineral and nutritional ratios that only Nature, at this point, knows how to assemble?
Which Will it Be? Lab Designed Megavitamin & Mineral Formulas or Nature’s Comprehensive Blends of Whole Earthen Substances?
When you consume ginger, you get over 400 known nutritional compounds (one of the most studied plants on earth).
When you consume an organic apple you used to get over 10,000 nutritional compounds (depleted soils and chemical agriculture have now reduced this to less than 1,000).
When you consume a clay, you get numerous mineral compounds and other life-building qualities in the form of macro minerals, trace minerals, angstrom (single atom) elements, electromagnetic and paramagnetic influences, detoxification powers, and a host of other benefits that science is only now just beginning to comprehend.
Yet these benefits have been there for hundreds of thousands of years.
Having passed through (and still experiencing) the Dark Ages of Medicine, when herbology and natural therapies were deliberately suppressed, the "modern" world is now awakening in greater numbers to their benefits.
What has Mother Nature Done that a Laboratory Full of Great Minds are Not Capable of Doing?
She has put together an amazing array of nutritional benefits that range from the:
- simple mineral and vitamin,
- to the complex molecular compounds (phytonutrients) that are specific to various plants,
- to the friendly bacteria that assist in their digestion,
- to the electromagnetic and paramagnetic forces,
- to the etheric and multidimensional qualities,
- and many other attributes that science has only vague ideas about, or has yet to discover.
The wisest thing that science can do today is to just observe the healing powers of a natural plant, sea vegetable, or clay in their raw, unaltered forms, and learn from them, then simply use them in their whole forms (if they want the same remarkable benefits that raw Nature provides).
Feeding ourselves only a small fragment (like just two minerals or an assortment of lab designed vitamins) of Nature's extremely complex array of nourishing influences, is simply setting the stage for further imbalances down the road (as is borne out by the massive failure of today's “fragmentary nutrition” to bring overall health to the human body).
Dis-ease is the Sign of an Inherent Imbalance. So, What is the Most Effective Route to Restoring Balance in the Human Body?
Is it really possible to create balance in the human body (an organic and complex biological organism), with substances that are disconnected from their original organic, wholesome, and balanced source?
It is time that we reconsider our societal fetish for the isolates, concentrates, and synthetics of “fragmentary medicine” that includes isolated vitamins, minerals, hormones, peptides, etc, etc.
No one knows how to create balanced nutrition for the human body better than Mother Nature. Why mess with a good thing?
Restoring balance and health to the body is much simpler than it seems. The work has already been done for us. The resources are abundantly available. The human body is perfectly capable of healing itself when given the wholesome resources provided to us by Nature.
If it is a good source of calcium and magnesium in a proper balance that you seek, consider seaweeds, typically possessing an ample supply of magnesium balanced by hundreds of other minerals and phytonutrients, including calcium.
Or try our Ancient Mineral Blend, a magnesium-rich source of fossilized plant matter combined with Humic Substances - all of which are naturally balanced earthen resources.
If it is Vitamin D that you seek, spend more time with your face to the sun, even if it is a cloudy day, and notice how nourishing it feels (goes right to the gut). If the sun is too bright just keep the eyes closed. You will still get nourished by the sun.
Watch every sunrise and sunset you can manage to fit into your busy schedule. Sunlight, and the prana that it is derived from, contain the essence and primal energy necessary for your body to manufacture the full array of required nutrients. Sunlight even helps minerals assimilate better into the cells.
This primal light, or prana, that is outside our visible spectrum, is the source of all material existence. Such a light is radiated out by our own sun through almost a million different frequencies of light, each with their beneficial effect on our minds and health. 6 Best Ways to Increase Vitamin D Levels During the Winter
Sunlight is one important way to improve one's mood and lift one's consciousness.
By combining facing the sun a few minutes per day and consuming medicinal mushrooms that have been left in the sunlight for 10 or more minutes, you will then receive an abundance of Vitamin D, including the bioavailable form of D3, along with other forms of vitamin D that your liver is able to store up for 3-4 months and distribute as needed.
If it is bone health that you seek, consider sea buckthorn berry, white oak bark, nettles, and solomon’s seal, along with full spectrum mineral clays, rich in silica (one of the major keys to mineral assimilation and bone density), all of which are found in Back, Muscle & Joint.
If you are willing to take a walk on the 'wild side', investigate the "forbidden" comfrey plant (AKA "knitbone"), recognized by Rudolf Steiner and many others as one of the seven most beneficial herbs on the planet (but restricted by the FDA due to its many other health benefits, like, in cases of asthma).
Of course, common sense says to also consider what else might be contributing to the deterioration of bones (or any other health abnormality in the body), and correct that as well - two of the most obvious being the consumption of sugars and other acid-promoting or fungus-promoting foods and drinks, like pastries, breads, coffee, oils, and yes, nuts and nut butters being among the worst offenders among our health conscious society today.
Yet, an abundance of a good, mineral-rich seaweed blend (minimum of 1 ounce per day) can go a long way toward balancing out even these health-deteriorating substances and restoring the pH back to the ideal, slightly alkaline level.
A good blend of seaweeds, algae, and other superfoods will nourish not only the bones, the blood, and the heart, but the entire hormonal, nervous, and digestive systems as well. They provide a massive array of building blocks for every metabolic function in the body -- bar none.
Rest assured, Mother Nature has not abandoned us. There really are answers -- and the answers are simpler than we may have thought.
If you are looking for something to improve the overall health of the human body, natural whole food resources and superfood blends (like Vital Cleanse & Nutrify), Earth & Sea Greens, Mineral Manna, Ormalite, and Sea Vegetable Blend plus Moringa) are more likely to provide the balanced health-building qualities that you seek.
The wise among us will reach first for whole food herbal and mineral nutrition, along with dietary and lifestyle changes, before trying anything else!
Many blessings of health & success.
Enjoy the many gifts from Nature!
