In the January 16th issue of the British Medical Journal, it was published that calcium supplementation increased hardening of the arteries, soft tissues, and increased the risk of heart attacks. I’ve spelled out the exact physiology of those changes for almost three decades in this newsletter, so this might be the right time to do a quick review.
First, let’s expel the medical myth that bones are made of calcium. Bones are made of minerals, of which calcium is a major player, but must be in perfect balance with magnesium and phosphorous and a host of other minerals that increase in number every five years or so according to new findings in the research literature.
All of these essential minerals must be present in proper balance for bones to re-mineralize. If there is imbalance among the minerals available, they are stored in the secondary storage sites, the lining tissues of the body, which include the linings of the arteries. Therefore, when all the needed minerals are present in balance, the body will take them from the secondary storage sites and return them to the primary storage sites, the bones.
Calcium supplementation, or supplementation with a calcium/magnesium supplement will eventually result in calcification (mineralization or hardening) of lining tissue. A short list of lining tissue changes include; arteries, arteriosclerosis; joints, osteoarthritis; and skin, with premature aging.
Secondly, calcium is a “neurological exciter.” When it gets out of balance with magnesium, the “neurological relaxer,” it will cause neuro-muscular excitation with cramping. Restless leg syndrome is a good example of this, and so is one type of heart attack. Calcium is an important mineral, but in my opinion the best way to supplement it is in a balanced medium with all the other minerals that bones need in order to remodel, heal and be healthy.
This has been brought home to me many times over the last forty years, as patients have come to me with broken bones that have been diagnosed as “failure to heal syndrome.” By removing them from the medically recommended calcium pills and replacing them with Preventics Bone 350 Plus, the patient’s broken bone will usually show a callous on X-ray within a 2 week time period. I have yet to see this approach fail.
Therefore, to get calcium and other minerals out of soft tissue and back into the bones where they are supposed to be stored, you need a balanced mineral supplement, and the balance found in bone is the perfect balance for getting minerals back into the bones.
