Calcium is one of the most popular nutrients on the planet, but here, as with any nutrient, there can be too much of good thing.  How do you know how much supplemental calcium, if any, is necessary?  What form is best absorbed and right for your particular needs?  What ratio of magnesium and related minerals should you take along with, or separately from, calcium?  How much is too much?  Health experts and vitamin sales people each seem to have a different answer, yet many can be traced back to their pocket book.

Remember that calcium supplements are just that.  They should supplement your diet.  Most peoples diet, even without any dairy products, will easily supply 500 milligrams (mg) of calcium.  With each cup of dairy 300 mg more can be added.  So when the doctor recommends that you get 1,000 mg of calcium, you may need only a few hundred milligrams supplementally.  Excess calcium can cause tissue calcification and interfere with other minerals.  If you are interested in a more precise determination of the actual calcium content of the foods you eat, I can perform a computer-calculated Dietary Nutrient Analysis (72 nutrients total).  Even more important than dietary nutrients, though, is your body tissue nutrient levels; ultimately it is the body that is being supplemented.  

Dietary calcium aside, the actual body tissue level of this mineral provides the best answer to your calcium concerns.  Like other minerals and vitamins, calcium can be tested in the body.  But each test of a different tissue type has its strengths and its weaknesses, which vary from nutrient to nutrient.  Blood is a fluid tissue.  Blood calcium levels are a relatively meaningless determinate of calcium adequacy.  Blood levels are used solely to evaluate your electrolyte status, not your nutritional status, nor bone health.  Along with potassium and sodium, blood (serum) calcium basically lets the doctor know your heart is still beating, and that there are enough electrolyte minerals to keep your other muscles contracting and relaxing.  Like teeth, bone is classified as a hard tissue.  Hence, so-called normal calcium value on your blood test results is not what you think.  Doctors measure serum calcium levels primarily for one reason.  Because calcium occurs in different forms in different parts of the body, it is tested here in the blood as an electrolyte to determine if you have enough of this electrically charged mineral for muscle contraction, to keep your heart beating, and nerve conduction.  It actually tells you very little about your bone health, nor the adequacy of your nutritional intake of calcium.  The body sets such a priority on a beating heart, that it will compromise the skeletal structure by leeching calcium from the bone in order to maintain a normal blood level.  It is possible, then, that while you are looking at a normal serum calcium value on your blood test result, you could at the same time be developing holes in your bones!  This is why I recommend having more than one test/indicator pointing at the same nutrient before you say "hey, I need more of this or that," and run out to vitamin store for another pill. 

Bone Density measurements are only a static indicator of overall bone health and only for the moment the test is done.  It reveals very little about calcium adequacy specifically, and even less about long-term bone nutrient metabolism, which direction things are going.  (Bone density is somewhat useful when repeated over time, and for monitoring certain drugs, but even then still has these limitations.)  Hair is type of soft tissue, in the same category as connective joint material: ligaments, tendons, and cartilage.  Hair Analysis is most useful to screen for toxic minerals such as mercury, aluminum, lead, and others.  Lead, by the way, is a direct antagonist to calcium.  If a person has lead toxicity, no special type nor amount of calcium will be properly utilized.   Head (or pubic) hair calcium levels reflect whole body connective tissue calcium levels, not just what’s in the head.  Additionally, several minerals related to calcium, such as magnesium and zinc, are accurately tested along with calcium.  These mineral relationships and ratios are just as critical as calcium itself.  Because I’ve written other more in-depth articles about Hair Mineral Testing, which is available on request, I just want to use the above brief overview as a segway to the BPCC Calcium Quick Test.

The BPCC Calcium Quick Test measures muscle calcium content, which is a functional indicator of calcium estimated to be a midpoint between blood/immediate and hair/long-term levels.  It takes only a moment and provides instant feedback about your calcium adequacy.  A blood pressure cuff is placed around the calf of the leg and gradually tightened until just before a muscle cramp would occur, while a reading is taken, and is then released.  If the amount of pressure is below a certain value, tissue calcium is low.  If it is at, or above, this value the calcium level is normal.  Like the other tests mentioned, the BCCP has its limitations.  It is closer to the meaning of a blood level than it is of hair, and thus does not reflect long-term calcium adequacy.  It also measures only calcium alone.  Magnesium and related minerals cannot be tested this way.  Yet, at a cost of only $5  it has proven to be a convenient screening tool to evaluate the use of any given calcium product and to determine if additional mineral testing is warranted.

The BPCC Calcium Quick Test can be done separately or as part of a panel of eight similar quick tests called the Nutrition Tune-Up for $30  which includes a 20-minute consultation.

Karl J. Mincin is a clinical nutritionist who specializes in nutrition assessment, the process of evaluating individual nutrient needs. He operates Nutrition Resource, a specialty vitamin & herb store and professional consulting services. Karl may be reached at (360) 770-8486.