Tag Archive for: absorption

The Best Source of Calcium

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Let’s go back to where we began. Is any form of calcium, whether from foods, supplements, or some new-fangled source, any better absorbed than another?

No—not enough that it would make a real difference, anyway. There are two primary forms of calcium available that have lead to this absorption controversy, so let’s take a look at them. In supplement form, calcium carbonate has the most calcium per mg at 40% while calcium citrate has about 20%. That means that fewer milligrams of calcium carbonate are needed to get the amount a person needs to take.

The . . .

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Variances in Calcium Absorption

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On top of the calcium absorption issues discussed in Tuesday’s message, there are a few more factors that have to be considered. In healthy women, gross absorption efficiency spans at least a threefold range, from 15% to 45%, even after adjustment for differences in intake.

Here’s an example. One woman, absorbing at 45% efficiency, extracts 135 mg of the calcium in an 8-ounce serving of milk containing 300 mg of calcium and after subtracting the calcium used in digestion, her net calcium is 100 mg. But another woman absorbing at 15% efficiency extracts only 45 mg and . . .

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Calcium Absorption

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As you might predict, I get a lot of questions about dietary supplements. People read about some just-discovered source of a nutrient and the claims that it’s better absorbed, and they wonder: is this better than the supplement I’m taking? Such is the case with calcium. A company has claimed that their form of calcium from algae is better absorbed.

Let’s start off with a general overview of calcium absorption. Calcium is poorly absorbed regardless of the source—doesn’t matter whether it’s dairy products, fish with soft bones such as sardines, or in supplements . . .

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