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From:
Katherine Morrison <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 12 Mar 2001 09:12:17 EST
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<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

<Does anyone know where I can find a GF calcium supplement.>

Solgar GF vits are listed on their website....they also have a calcium
citrate...if you go to the HFS - a real one, not GNC - you'll likely have a
wide selection of calcium supps.  Calcium citrate is the best absorbed as
Vance said.

Another thing that I've found and *love* is an unusual calcium supp.  It's
actually a fresh water plant and is freeze dried and powdered - so you're
taking it like any 'greenfood/superfood' supplement.  The plant is called
Hydrilla Verticillata, which is also the name of the product  'Hydrilla
Verticillata: The Calcium Plant" by a company called Vibrant Health.  One
tbsp of the powder has 600+ mgs of calcium.

Another thing to consider is doing some research on calcium absorption, what
affects how much dietary calcium is needed.  There are theories out there
that say some interesting things -

1) that calcium from dairy is *very* poorly assimilated - and that's why the
USRDA is set so high in terms of calcium requirements..because most of us are
counting on calcium from dairy - so we need  more than we would if we were
counting on non-dairy sources (ie almonds, collards, kale, broccoli, sesame
seeds, dried figs).  Some say that we only need 1/2 as much if we're getting
the calcium from these vegetable sources.

2)that the high phosophorus content of animal products (meat and diary)
actually cause us to loose calcium.  Phosophorus is acidic in the
body...which *must* be alkaline to operate properly...so calcium is taken
from the bloodstream and leached from the bones (if there's not enough in the
bloodstream) to neutralize the phosphorus.  So this theory would say that not
only does the consumption of animal products negatively affect our calcium
balance, but that it also raises are need for calcium to an unusually high
level to offset the excretion of said calcium.

3)  coffee and soda intake can affect calcium excretion.  good article in the
last "living Without".


Also interesting to note that in heavily meat based populations (look at the
innuit) there is a tremendous amount of osteoporosis....Someone is currently
doing a longitudinal study in China - on a population where meat consumption
is very low - so is diary consumption....osteoporosis is almost non-existent.
 This is widely reported in the anthropological literature (biological
anthro) in many many societies.

Other interesting things - even though the women typically spend very little
of their lives having fertile cycles (because of pregnancy and extended
breastfeeding), and have later menarche and earlier menopause than we do,
again osteoporosis is virtually unheard of - even though the women have much
lower levels of estrogen throughout their lives because of the above info.
Based on our model of osteoporosis, this is suprising, since most american
phsyicians feel that estrogen is a huge component of maintaining strong
bones.  It's interesting that this is not the reality of the non-modern world.

So, if you buy into any of these theories and act on them, you may really
only need 400-600 mgs of  calcium per day.  If not, then you need alot more :)

katherine in atl

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