DISCLAIMER: The following commentary is based on opinion, and should be considered as such. Since it cannot account for your specific physical situation or medical condition, information presented in either the video or written formats of this commentary is not intended to substitute for individualized medical advice from a physician, or other qualified health professional. 

Media Reports on Calcium Supplements Misleading - It’s Lack Of Magnesium

By John H. Biggs BSc, NCP - Owner Optimum Health Vitamins

Medical and media reports that calcium supplements increase risk of stroke or heart attack are misleading, and do not accurately represent the bigger picture. The problem isn’t calcium per se, rather it’s taking large amounts of it, on its own, over a long period of time, without being balanced by other minerals, namely magnesium.

Like strands in a fishing net, the nutrients that work in the body are interconnected and interdependent. Taking high amounts of most any isolated vitamin or mineral over a long period, without balancing it with at least a baseline spectrum of the others can be ineffective, and potentially do more harm than good. Ever since opening Optimum Health in 1994, we have advised people that it’s a bad idea to take straight calcium without adding magnesium, if not a multivitamin and/or trace minerals as well.

Calcium and magnesium oppose each other in numerous functions in the body, including muscle contraction/relaxation, and across cell membranes where magnesium often acts as a natural calcium block to regulate calcium entry into cells. To sum it up, when someone is deficient in magnesium, calcium has a much greater tendency to precipitate and deposit into soft tissues, such as the kidneys, or arteries which then harden. [1] [2] [3]

Since vitamin D increases the amount of calcium absorbed, adding it to isolated calcium supplementation while in a magnesium deficient state only worsens the situation.

Yet, this is exactly what the medical profession has been advising for years, i.e. 1500 mg of elemental calcium per day, (a large dose), with vitamin D. Many times when someone has brought in this recommendation from their doctor, upon inquiring whether the M.D. mentioned magnesium, people have told me that they asked, but the doctor said it wasn’t necessary.

Even two decades ago studying nutrition in university I attended presentations on this exact topic, where calcium supplementation in the absence of magnesium caused deleterious effects. And when magnesium was added, the problems abated. So it’s not as if the information isn’t out there. In fact, this offsetting relationship between calcium and magnesium was noted over 50 years ago. [4]

Also, as we have said for years…”Simply adding more calcium to make more bone is like adding more eggs to make more cake” , i.e. it doesn’t work. Building bone is a complex process, and directly or indirectly, more than 16 nutrients have been shown to play a role. [5]

After presenting the somewhat incomplete picture regarding calcium supplements, the CTV News story I saw then tried to steer people towards getting their calcium from food, while showing dairy products. But, it has been a longstanding epidemiological observation that countries with the highest protein, dairy, and calcium intakes, such as the United States and Sweden, also have the highest rates of osteoporosis. [6]

Though a directly causal relationship cannot be drawn, it would seem apparent that simply consuming more calcium, particularly from acid-forming dairy products, is not the answer to increasing your bone mass. If it was, then the countries eating the most dairy and calcium would have the least osteoporosis, and rates would be declining in the Western world. Yet it’s the opposite effect that is occurring. [7] Currently, in the U.S. and Europe around 30% of all postmenopausal females have osteoporosis. [8]

The news report also attempted to generalize the negative findings about calcium to all dietary supplements, which is analogous to finding a problem with one type of car, and applying it to all forms of vehicles. It is a complete over- generalization. The real problem is poor recommendations made by health professionals who are ignorant of nutrition and/or proper supplementation protocols.

On this note, the media story directly featured up- close a bottle of Coral Calcium. But be clear that Coral Calcium is an excellent source of trace minerals so deficient in today’s food supply. And because of the broad spectrum of trace minerals present, particularly when combined with extra Magnesium and Vitamin D, and a good multivitamin, we have always found that the utilization of Coral Calcium, as reflected by positive results in serial bone density readings, is much higher than with average calcium or mineral supplements. [See past Optimum Health article on Coral Calcium. July 2010]

Sure, this is an anecdotal observation, but it’s based on seeing what works with some degree of consistency over a 25 year period in real life, instead of a test tube, or on TV.

Again, it’s the same principle of interdependent nutrients functioning much more effectively as a whole, or a full-spectrum, than by themselves…not a big surprise, given that utilization factors for each nutrient are more likely to be addressed.

The pertinent question then is how much of each, or what ratio of the two minerals to use?

I do not believe that taking a standard 2:1 ratio of Calcium to Magnesium provides relatively enough magnesium to be optimal for most people. I most commonly recommend a 1:1 ratio, (i.e. the same amounts of both), usually in the range of 500 to 1000mg of each, (more or less depending on the person and/or situation). But if your bowels are sensitive to magnesium, at minimum, regardless of how much you take, I would say that usually at least two parts of magnesium should be taken for every three of calcium, (i.e. a 3:2 Cal/Mag ratio).

Personally, though my intake is variable from day to day, I take approximately three parts of magnesium for every two of calcium. And in cases of unwanted calcium deposits, experience over the years has shown that it can be very helpful take twice as much magnesium as calcium. Using magnesium to alleviate calcification syndromes is also supported in the literature. [9] For such applications, I have always found that magnesium and calcium citrates are the most effective forms.

In such situations, given that excess calcium is the problem, one may wonder why take any calcium at all? The reason is that if blood levels drop too low, the amount released from the bones, due to the action of parathyroid hormone, can dwarf what is supplied by a supplement.

In conclusion, imbalanced recommendations for calcium intake add to a long history of bad nutritional advice purported by the M&M duo, (medicine and media), joining others such as: margarine is good for your heart, or that over 800 IU of vitamin D is toxic, or that the less fat you eat, the better, etc. etc.

It is a perfect reminder of why whoever you take your nutritional advice from needs to be trained in the area. Such is not the case for most M.D.s, or the media.

REFERENCES / LITERATURE CITED

1. Britton W.M., and E.L.R. Stokstad: Aorta and Other Soft Tissue Calcification in the Magnesium-deficient Rat.; 1970; J. NUTRITION, 100: 1501-1506.
2. Jacob, M., and Forbes R.M.: Effects of Magnesium Deficiency, Dietary Sulfate and Thyroxin Treatment on Kidney Calcification and Tissue Protein-bound Carbohydrate in the Rat.; 1969; JOURNAL OF NUTRITION 99: 51-57.
3. Driessens FC, and Verbeeck RM: On the Prevention and Treatment of Calcification Disorders of Old Age.; Med Hypotheses 1988 Mar 25 (3): 131-7
4. Wickham, N.: Calcification in Soft Tissues Associated with Dietary Magnesium Deficiency in the Guinea Pig. 1958; Australian Veterinary Journal 34 (8) 244-248 published online 10 Mar 2008
5. Palacios, C : The Role of Nutrients in Bone Health, from A to Z..; Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2006; 46 (8): 621-8 Pub Med Abstract.
6. Hegsted, D.M. : Calcium and Osteoporosis; 1986; American Institute of Nutrition J. NUTR. 116: 2316-2319, 1986.
7. Reginster, J-Y, and Burlet: Osteoporosis: A Still Increasing Prevalence. (WHO Collaborating Center for Public Health, Belgium) ; BONE 2006 Feb; 38 (2 Suppl 1); 4-9 Pub Med Abstract.
8. International Osteoporosis Foundation website; About Osteoporosis: Epidemiology: http://www.iofbonehealth.org/health-professionals/about-osteoporosis/epidemiology.html
9. Steidl L, Ditmar R.: Soft Tissue Calcification Treated with Local and Oral Magnesium Therapy. Magnes Res 1990 Jun; 3(2): 113-9
10. Magnesium Deficiency in the Pathogenesis of Disease: Early Roots of Cardiovascular, Skeletal, and Renal Abnormalities: Mildred S. Seelig, MD, MPH, FACN. Goldwater Memorial Hospital, New York University Medical Center, New York 1980: Part III Chapter 13 Skeletal and Renal Effects of Magnesium Deficiency. Access Online: http://www.mgwater.com/Seelig/Magnesium-Deficiency-in-the-Pathogenesis-of-Disease/chapter13.shtml
11. Lanou A.J., Berkow S.E., Barnard N.D.: Calcium, Dairy Products, and Bone Health in Children and Young Adults: A Reevaluation of the Evidence; PEDIATRICS Vol. 115 No.3 March 2005, pp. 736-743. Published online March 1, 2005.