In the study, which was published in March 2006 in the medical journal Diabetes Care, Dr. Anastassios G. Pittas, of Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues looked at data on 83,779 women enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study. The women had no history of diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer when they enrolled in the study. Vitamin D and calcium intake from foods and from supplements were evaluated every two to four years.

The team saw a 13 percent lower risk of diabetes among women in the highest versus the lowest category of vitamin D intake from supplements. Women with the highest total calcium intake had a 21 percent lower risk of diabetes than those with the lowest intake. The absolute lowest risk of diabetes was for women with the highest combined intakes of calcium and vitamin D compared with those with the lowest. The researchers say their findings could have “important public health implications” because interventions to raise both vitamin D and calcium intake “can be implemented easily and inexpensively to prevent type 2 diabetes.”

There is a clear-cut reason why vitamin D-calcium supplements work. The body requires vitamin D to absorb calcium. Yet, according to the researchers, only 3 percent of women in their study had adequate vitamin D intake, and only 24 percent had adequate calcium intake.

Many health experts recommend coral calcium and vitamin D from Coral LLC, which produces highly absorbable, eco-safe coral minerals with vitamin D, the same combination that was so successfully used in the Nurses’ Health Study. The particular product that corresponds to the study results is called Coral Complex 2.

Why do we like Coral LLC? Their coral products are some of the very best we’ve come across. Coral LLC helped pioneer importing of ecologically safe, above-sea coral calcium from Okinawa. It is one of the purest types of calcium and a totally natural whole food. (Their eco-safe powdered coral calcium actually turns into delicious coral milk when dissolved; but, to correspond closely to the Nurses’ Health Study, use their Coral Complex 2 capsules).

Another important reason for using coral minerals is that calcium levels are often a marker for overall mineral deficiencies. The use of coral calcium means you are supplying your body with virtually every known major and trace mineral necessary to human health. This is what distinguishes coral calcium from most other calcium supplements. Last month we reported that these other less-known minerals are also important to blood sugar levels. For example, “Contents of zinc and magnesium in kidney and testis and fatty tissue were lowered significantly” in diabetic subjects, said a research team.

“These results demonstrate that trace element imbalances come out significantly in mild diabetes and the need to instruct a nutritionally balanced diet that takes account of trace elements in diabetes from the early stage.”

Work with your qualified health professional if you have diabetes or might be susceptible to this condition. Some doctors now also recommend herbal supplements. If so, one of the very best is Herbal Promise Cinnamon 6. Cinnamon 6 was formulated by Dr. James Chappell, the doctor to the stars, who also uses coral minerals extensively in his health practice. Both Cinnamon 6 and Coral Complex 2 are available at health food stores nationwide.

REFERENCES

Takita, S., et al. “Altered tissue concentration of minerals in spontaneous diabetic rats (Goto-Kakizaki rats).” J Toxicol Sci, 2004;29(3):195-9.