Mary, I personally give my children calcium and at different times of
the day magnesium. The calcium I give with vitamin D, the magnesium with
vitamin B6, these are important co-factors.

Calcium is often poorly absorbed so I use hydroxyapatite (sp?) which is
essentially processed from bone meal. It contains calcium in its most
easily absorbed form, along with phosphorous and various other minerals,
as it is from bone and contains all that bone contains. I can't remember
where, but I have read this is the best form of supplemental calcium to
take. I give magnesium citrate and/or chelated magnesium.

I don't see how any of us can get enough calcium from our diets. I eat
sardines, I eat almonds and I eat a lot of leafy green veggies, but not
in the kind of quantities that the cavemen did. My hunch is that I eat
more protein and less vegetables than true "paleopeople", and I don't
restrict my diet to grassfed animals although I try. I will try sesame
tahini but again doubt I am going to eat calcium rich food in sufficient
quantity, so I will continue to supplement.

Anyhow, for gum problems, CoEnzyme Q10 has been shown to really help.
You need to take it with a fatty meal.

I have been told that calcium and magnesium receptors compete, so it is
good to give these at separate times of the day.

I don't think any of us can "duplicate" the original paleo diet, so I
believe strongly in supplements. I take mixed tocopherol E, A, C, D, B
complex, extra folic acid, magnesium, calcium,  zinc, chromium,
selenium, and kelp. I take most of these in the morning, with extra C at
night, and generally I take my calcium with a red meat meal because
calcium blocks iron absorption and I don't need extra iron. I also take
ginkgo biloba, and flaxseed oil because I don't think I get enough
omega3 fatty acids. I am starting to also take omega 6 fatty acids from
unprocessed seed oils, I am using Udo's Choice which you can buy at
Whole Foods in the refrigerated supplements area and this contains omega
3 and omega 6 fatty acids in 1:2 proportion I believe, while flaxseed
oil doesn't contain enough omega 6 to be healthful over the long term.

I don't believe that fish oil or oil capsules are good, because the oil
in them gets rancid. If I were to take fish oil, I'd take cod liver oil
from a bottle. My skin is soft and I think EFAs are one of the most
important supplements we can use.

Interestingly, when I have an occasional headache, I take about 700mg of
magnesium and some gingko and my headache goes away, so I seldom take
aspirin or anything else. So I guess some supplements do make you feel
different.

--Richard