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This is a forum copy of the transcript for the video at: Video library: Little to No Calcium Supplementation
For why this is here, see this revised Reply in an earlier transcript thread.
Transcript:
I’d like to re-iterate that we do not take calcium, or at least, not much calcium supplements, in the Undoctored program. Let me describe why.
As you know, calcium is typically prescribed by doctors because they believe it goes straight to the bones, and makes them sturdier, less thin, less osteoporotic or less osteopenic, and thereby less prone to hip fractures, and other osteoporotic fractures that often occur later in life.
Is that true? No. Calcium does not go directly to the bones. It goes to other places, like your arteries, or your heart valves. It has even been associated with increased cardiovascular risk, as much as a 50% increase in deaths from cardiac disease.
Taking generally high doses of calcium, such as 1500 milligrams per day in a supplement form, is a really bad idea. And it does not result in a reduction in hip fractures, and other forms of osteoporotic fractures. Calcium is a really bad idea.
The question becomes: do you need to take any calcium at all? You do get calcium in your diet, after all, though the recommended daily allowance suggests that you need to supplement calcium to get a sufficient amount. Well, there are some flaws in that reasoning.
In the Undoctored lifestyle, that is, the basic Wild-Naked-Unwashed program, we eliminate grains, and by doing so, we eliminate the gliadin protein of wheat, rye and barley, that causes fairly significant urinary calcium loss. It’s dose-dependent, meaning the more grains you eat, the more calcium you lose. Well, we don’t eat any grains, so that urinary calcium loss is now turned off.
We cultivate bowel flora with species like lactobacillus which causes increased calcium absorption. The correction of a common dysbiosis helps us increase calcium absorption.
We also restore vitamin D to a favorable levels sufficient to reduce parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels, which is a very good indication of calcium and vitamin D status. We get our 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level into the range of 60 to 70 nanograms per milliliter, which also substantially increases calcium absorption from the intestines, and suppresses PTH.
Higher levels of PTH, that occur in people who don’t correct vitamin D, for instance, causes calcium to be pulled from the bones. Our PTH’s are suppressed, and do not cause calcium to be mobilized.
So we don’t need the calcium as much as other people.
Perhaps the least important effect, but I think still something of an effect: we are net alkaline. That is, because we eliminate grains, that are very acidifying in the body, and we increase our consumption of green vegetables, we shift our body pH toward alkaline. The alkaline pH discourages mobilization or loss of calcium from the bones.
For those reasons, I think that the notion of having to take calcium supplements is probably flawed. What is not clear is if we can take small amounts of calcium supplements just to be sure. Should you do that? I don’t really know. I don’t think anybody knows. But if you do, if you choose to take a calcium supplement, I would urge you to not take the typical doses used to prevent osteoporosis that don’t work, like 1500 mg per day or 1200 mg/day. I would take no more than 500 mg/day, and that’s of elemental calcium. Any more than that, you start to incur an increase in cardiovascular risk.