Calcium for Osteoporosis: Which Calcium Is Better?
At the first signs of osteoporosis, doctors recommend that the patient supplement his diet with a high-quality vitamin and mineral complex with the addition of calcium, because weakened joints and bones require constant support. Pharmacy counters are full of beautiful packages, and here it is not surprising to get confused: what are the criteria for choosing a good drug?
The vast majority of modern multivitamin and mineral complexes are made with the addition of calcium carbonate. This affordable substance is easily extracted from a variety of sources:
- Limestone and dolomite deposits;
- Shells and shells of crustaceans;
- Mammalian bones;
- Eggshell.
Pharmaceutical companies promoting calcium carbonate in drugstore chains are pushing hard on the natural, natural origin of this chemical compound. But in this case, the word "natural" is not synonymous with the words "safe" and "effective". Why? Let's figure it out.
Content:
- Carbonate or citrate: who wins?
- Calcium absorption with decreased gastric acidity
- Biochemical Benefits of Calcium Citrate
Carbonate or citrate: who wins?
There is another bioavailable form of calcium - citrate. Why is it better or worse than the usual carbonate? For the first time, American scientists, engaged in the search for a cure for osteoporosis in women in menopause and postmenopausal period, tried to answer this question. Studies have shown that calcium citrate outperforms carbonate in three important ways:
- It reduces the percentage of loss of calcium stores with urine in the body of older women;
- With the use of citrate, the concentration of calcium in the blood is higher;
- Calcium citrate inhibits the secretion of parathyroid hormone - a substance responsible for age-related, hormonal leaching of calcium from female bones.
Hence, it is clear that women with osteoporosis are better off taking vitamin and mineral complexes with the addition of citrate, rather than calcium carbonate. But in fact, such a recommendation can be given to any elderly person with weak bones. It's all about the acidity of the stomach and the characteristics of calcium absorption.
Calcium absorption with decreased gastric acidity
Almost half of people over fifty years old have reduced or completely insufficient stomach acidity. What does this mean in practice? A person simply does not have the right amount of hydrochloric acid to dissolve and assimilate calcium carbonate. After taking a pill of the drug, an elderly patient will receive only about two percent of the calcium contained there. And if the mineral complex was made on the basis of calcium citrate, the digestibility percentage would be at least forty, that is, the therapy would be 20 times more effective.
The disadvantages of calcium carbonate are not limited to poor absorption with low stomach acidity. Another bad thing is that an excess of unprocessed carbonate reduces the content of hydrochloric acid in gastric juice even more. This leads to bloating, colic, flatulence and constipation. And finally, we must not forget about the protective properties of hydrochloric acid: a sufficient level of this substance in the gastric secretion is the key to a healthy bacterial environment. And if there is little acid, microbes and fungi that enter the body with food have every chance of successful reproduction.
Biochemical Benefits of Calcium Citrate
So we've scolded calcium carbonate enough. Now here are the specific benefits of citrate to make our position look one hundred percent convincing:
- Regular intake of calcium citrate for osteoporosis does not cause any side effects, except for those caused by cases of individual intolerance;
- Citrate helps our body to assimilate other useful components of vitamin and mineral complexes, for example, vitamin C and magnesium;
- When it enters the human body, calcium citrate is divided into its constituent parts - calcium is absorbed by the skeleton, but citrate participates in the so-called Krebs cell cycle. Simply put, it burns out and gives us energy. When calcium carbonate is separated, only carbon dioxide remains - an absolutely unnecessary decay product;
- Elderly people who, in addition to osteoporosis, are worried about kidney problems, can safely recommend calcium citrate, because it alkalizes urine, which means it prevents the formation of sand and kidney stones, and does not allow inflammatory processes to develop.
Pharmaceutical companies are well aware of the competitive advantages of calcium citrate, and some of them go for tricks: they add calcium carbonate as the main component to their preparation, and put a tiny fraction of citrate, just to get the opportunity to mention this name on the label.
How to avoid becoming a victim of deception? Here are some guidelines:
- Choose the medicine on the package of which only calcium citrate appears, and there is no carbonate at all;
- Read the dosage and capsule weight carefully. If it is said that one tablet or capsule contains, for example, the daily rate of active calcium for patients with osteoporosis is 200 mg, then this means that the tablet cannot weigh less than 1000 mg. The "carrier" itself - citrate - plus excipients and a shell - and as a result the capsule will be quite large. A small pill clearly indicates that either the dosage is not at all the same or the wrong substance is carbonate.
Detailed information about the beneficial properties of calcium in osteoporosis, its pharmacological forms and absorption characteristics can be found in the book: "Substances of life: calcium, magnesium and vitamin D. Moscow, 2005"
Author of the article: Kaplan Alexander Sergeevich | Orthopedist
Education: diploma in the specialty "General Medicine" received in 2009 at the Medical Academy. I. M. Sechenov. In 2012 completed postgraduate studies in Traumatology and Orthopedics at the City Clinical Hospital named after Botkin at the Department of Traumatology, Orthopedics and Disaster Surgery.
