Adding Supplemental Calcium Improves Weight Loss

If you’re eating less and not losing weight as rapidly as you would like, adding extra low-fat calcium sources or a calcium supplement is a critical key to weight loss. That’s the conclusion of researchers like Robert Heaney, a calcium expert at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska.

“This is not a magic bullet, but adequate levels of calcium can help you ‘melt’ fat more quickly,” says Heaney, who admits he was astonished when his own research among some 575 women showed that obesity is closely linked to calcium deficiency. In fact, he found more than a threefold difference between women with low and high calcium. “We were looking at mid-life weight gain and found that women with the highest calcium intakes didn’t gain weight and those with the lowest did,” Dr. Heaney said.

Meanwhile, Michael Zemel, Ph.D., of the University of Tennessee, says that because calcium plays a key role in metabolic disorders linked to obesity and insulin resistance, a diet low in calcium literally stockpiles fat cells while higher calcium diets deplete them. “The magnitude of the finding was shocking,” says Dr. Zemel, whose team has discovered that a high calcium diet releases a hormone which sends signals that are read by the body’s fat cells to lose weight.

As dietary calcium intake increases, it acts at the cellular level to alter energy metabolism so that more food energy is burned and less is stored as fat, says Dr. Zemel.

The researcher concluded that low calcium diets lead to increased fat storage and higher calcium diets favor increased burning of fat. The calcium in fat cells “is a logical target for pharmacological and/or nutritional regulation” of overweight and obesity, he says.

At Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, a two-year study that involved 54 women ages 18 to 31 found those with a daily intake of at least 780 milligrams of calcium showed no increase in body fat, or lost body fat mass during a two-year period. Women who averaged less than 780 milligrams of calcium gained weight during the same period.

Based on our review of many different coral products including assays for contamination and ecological considerations, we recommend eco-safe above-sea fossilized stony coral from Coral, Inc., the first company to introduce coral minerals in the United States.

Coral Complex from Coral, Inc., was the first (1999) powdered coral capsule product in the United States. With the addition of vitamin D3, this formula has become the most popular and successful coral capsule formula in the nation.

Naturopathic doctors usually recommend 3 capsules per day as a maintenance supply for a healthy adult. To reverse a specific condition (i.e., raising pH or building bone density), naturopathic physicians often recommend a double dose. To address a chronic condition, a triple dose might be needed. No known toxicity level exists. (We know of numerous people that have been taking 16 to 24 grams of coral per day for several years and they have only positive reports. It is usually best to take the coral directly before bed, because coral does promote a restful night’s sleep.)

Eco Pure Coral from Coral, Inc. consists of 100 percent pure coral powder. Nothing has been added to the coral. The coral powder is extremely fine. So fine that a small amount on the tongue simply absorbs through the mouth; one does not even need to swallow.

One-quarter teaspoon equals approximately one gram. A naturopathic doctor usually recommends one to two grams per day as a maintenance supply for a healthy adult. To reverse a specific condition, use a double dose. To address a chronic condition, use a triple dose.

Availability—Both Coral Complex and Eco Pure Coral are available at many health food stores nationwide. To find a store in your area, call the company toll free at (800) 882-9577 or e-mail them at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

THE CORAL MINERAL FACTOR

We’ve been learning that both exercisers and couch potatoes seemed to benefit from added calcium to their diets. You will lose the most weight dining on calcium-rich low-fat dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt. However, taking calcium supplements is also very effective. (In one study, mice getting their calcium via supplements had a 42 percent decrease in body fat, whereas mice eating dairy products had up to a 69 percent decrease in body fat.)

For this reason, we recommend consuming dairy, as well as ensuring a high calcium intake with easily absorbed calcium-mineral supplements. Coral minerals supply some of the most bioavailable calcium today and address your total major and trace mineral needs (most of us are in a state of mineral deficiency).

In fact, as we reported last month, coral minerals are so “body ready” that orthopedic surgeons use lab-harvested stony coral minerals as their material of choice for bone grafts. This is very clear and convincing evidence that coral calcium is well absorbed by the body— in addition to comparison studies that we have also reviewed.

REFERENCES

Schmidt, S. “The newest weight-loss pill.” Alternative Medicine, March 2004:49-51.