Tag Archive for: calcium

Broken Bones and Heel Spurs

/in /by

Two questions I regularly get asked about bones: What can I do to help heal broken bones? And what can I do about heel spurs? Without question, you must see a doctor to get a diagnosis. This is something you shouldn’t self-diagnose or try to “handle” it yourself. Once you’ve done that, here’s what I would do.

For broken bones, once the bones are set and you have a cast or other immobilizing device, there are some nutrients that may help:

  • Glucosamine: 1,500 – 3,000 mg per day. Seem odd? Not . . .

    We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

    If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Baby Bones

/in /by

If you read the message regularly, you know I frequently mention my pretend grandson Riley. He’s 18 months old and he has one speed: fast. As a result, he occasionally falls. While sometimes he does fall hard enough to hurt himself, he doesn’t break any bones as I might if I fell that often. Why not?

Most of a baby’s bones begin as cartilage. A baby has about 300 bones at birth. As they grow, their bones begin to get solid; the cartilage cells gradually become bone cells by absorbing minerals such as calcium. Some bones fuse . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Sports Nutrition During Your Workout

/in /by

There’s probably more research on what sports nutrition products to use during workouts than any other area. The critical factor is to maintain fluid balance while working out; water is an essential part of these products but that’s not all.

The critical factor is to keep the brain, the nervous system, and the muscles all functioning during workouts; the longer the activity, the more important fluids become. We lose fluids readily as we work out. Part of that is our cooling mechanism, but another is a by-product of making energy using oxygen. Whether you burn carbohydrates or . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Breast Cancer Follow-up Options

/in /by

After treatment for breast cancer, you have a decision to make: do you take the medication to prevent reoccurrence? The decision always lies with the individual after considering all options; my role is to explain the options based on the current research. It goes without question that everyone should try to have the healthiest lifestyle possible including diet, exercise, and supplements. Those will help improve the outcome, medication or not, but this is about whether to take the medication, so here we go.

 

The Medication Option

Basing the decision on current research, taking the letrozole would seem . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Calcium vs. Magnesium: Is It a Battle?

/in /by

Let’s finish up this calcium versus magnesium controversy that seems to exist by answering the last questions.

When should you take these minerals? My simple answer is any time you want. However, based on most research, taking calcium and magnesium with food will help with absorption. The reason ties back to the form being a non-issue. When you eat food, you release stomach acids which help break down food and that includes the supplements you take. Is it an oversimplification? Yes, but it’s one that doesn’t really matter. I’ll get to that later . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

The Controversy: Calcium vs. Magnesium

/in /by

When it comes to calcium and magnesium, the controversy seems to be about supplementation.

  • What is the best form of each mineral?
  • When should you take these minerals?
  • Do they interfere with each other?

I’ve read more of the research on these topics than I care to admit. I won’t give you chapter and verse answers; I’ll just give you what the totality of the research says.

What’s the best form of each mineral? It really doesn’t matter. Calcium carbonate and magnesium oxide are the most criticized . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Calcium vs. Magnesium

/in /by

The 100th Indianapolis 500 was run on Sunday. A relatively unknown rookie, Alexander Rossi, won the race. Based on sports news reports, there were more lead changes and more position changes than in many Indy 500s. With 33 cars and drivers, changing track conditions, accidents, bumps, spins, and pit crews, the number of variables that contributed to the win by one driver and the loss by all the rest are too numerous to even try to attempt to calculate. Anyone who says they can do it is delusional.

What does this have to do with calcium and magnesium? There are . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

The Best Source of Calcium

/in /by

Let’s go back to where we began. Is any form of calcium, whether from foods, supplements, or some new-fangled source, any better absorbed than another?

No—not enough that it would make a real difference, anyway. There are two primary forms of calcium available that have lead to this absorption controversy, so let’s take a look at them. In supplement form, calcium carbonate has the most calcium per mg at 40% while calcium citrate has about 20%. That means that fewer milligrams of calcium carbonate are needed to get the amount a person needs to take.

The . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Variances in Calcium Absorption

/in /by

On top of the calcium absorption issues discussed in Tuesday’s message, there are a few more factors that have to be considered. In healthy women, gross absorption efficiency spans at least a threefold range, from 15% to 45%, even after adjustment for differences in intake.

Here’s an example. One woman, absorbing at 45% efficiency, extracts 135 mg of the calcium in an 8-ounce serving of milk containing 300 mg of calcium and after subtracting the calcium used in digestion, her net calcium is 100 mg. But another woman absorbing at 15% efficiency extracts only 45 mg and . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.

Calcium Absorption

/in /by

As you might predict, I get a lot of questions about dietary supplements. People read about some just-discovered source of a nutrient and the claims that it’s better absorbed, and they wonder: is this better than the supplement I’m taking? Such is the case with calcium. A company has claimed that their form of calcium from algae is better absorbed.

Let’s start off with a general overview of calcium absorption. Calcium is poorly absorbed regardless of the source—doesn’t matter whether it’s dairy products, fish with soft bones such as sardines, or in supplements . . .

We're sorry, but this content is available to Members and Insiders only.

If you're already a DrChet.com Member or Insider, click on the Membership Login link on the top menu. Members may upgrade to Insider by going to the Store and clicking Membership; your membership fee will be prorated automatically.