Calcium:

It happens almost every week in practice, especially as a chiropractor

where a lot of the problems that people are coming into the clinic with
are related to bone health. The patient tells me that their family doctor
has performed a bone scan, and the test has shown that they have an
abnormally decreased amount of calcium in their bones. The next
words out of the patients mouth are that their doctor has prescribed a
certain milligrams of calcium and an equally high milligram dose of
vitamin D to help their problem. Everyone knows that vitamin D is
contained in milk, and that milk helps build strong bones. But is this
really the case? Do taking mega doses of calcium and vitamin D really
correct the problem, or should the patient be prescribed a Fosomaxtype drug right away. And what exactly do these drugs do to increase
bone density? Well, Im glad you asked.
99% of Calcium in the body is Calcium Phosphate
1% of Calcium in the body is ionizable Calcium, which is calcium
bicarbonate.
Like most things, the 1% ionizable calcium is of greater significance to
the body than the 99% calcium phosphate. Why?
Ionizable calcium is the primary defense against foreign invaders
because it outlines these invaders and assists in identifying them to
the rest of the immune system. Whenever there is a foreign invader
that enters the body, either bacterial or viral, the body utilizes the 1%
ionizable calcium to identify the invader, and perform something called
the calcium wave. The calcium wave can be thought of like the old
cowboys and Indians movies where the Indians form a circle and
surround the stagecoaches (identifying/outlining the pathogen), and
then along with white blood cells they collapse in on the encircled
pathogen and destroy it. The phagocytes (white blood cells) kill
whatever the ionizable calcium was surrounding. Howard Petty PHD,
from the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center was the first to
show this on film using high-speed optical microscopy with shutter
speeds as fast as 50 nanoseconds and repetition rates shorter than
one millisecond.
How does ionizable perform this task? This is where vitamin C comes
into play. Vitamin C does not stimulate the immune response or
phagocytosis as many people think, but instead it arms the calcium
to help oxidize and incinerate the foreign invaders. This is what Linus
Pauling was trying to prove with all of his vitamin C research.
Unfortunately Pauling was studying a synthetic form of vitamin C
called ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is not the entire C complex, but is

instead the antioxidant wrapper that protects the actual

plant/nutrient from rotting. It is an extremely inexpensive form of
vitamin C to make, by combining corn syrup with sulfuric acid.
The difference between a natural and a synthetic vitamin is significant,
and is the topic of a future lecture.
Getting back to calcium, there are two forms of calcium, which can be
converted to calcium bicarbonate (ionizable calcium) in the body by
giving it an electrical charge; they are calcium lactate, and calcium
citrate. Aside from supplementation, Evian spring water is one of the
best sources of calcium bicarbonate.
Most calcium supplements on the market utilize calcium carbonate.
Ingesting calcium carbonate is the equivalent of chiseling off a piece of
your sidewalk each morning and sprinkling it on your breakfast cereal.
It is not a form of calcium that can be utilized to build bone, nor can it
be converted into ionizable calcium to help perform the calcium
wave.
The body is very protective of its 1% ionizable calcium, for obvious
reasons. If supplies of ionizable calcium begin to deplete one of the
main ways that it tries to resupply is via a fever. The body increases
body temperature in an attempt to reacquire the 1% of the ionizable
calcium from the bones. This is a very common occurrence in children
due to the bodys inability to keep up with calcium demands in forming
bones and teeth, and is one of the main reasons that children suffer so
many fevers.
Calcium Considerations:
Calcium and Phosphorus:
Serum Calcium performed on a standard blood test is not at all
reflective of total body stores of calcium. Serum Calcium reflects the
metabolism and hormonal state of the individual. Ionizable calcium is
the active form of calcium and reflects the amount of a substance
called albumin, and the pH of the blood.
Phosphorus is the reciprocal of calcium in the blood. Along with
calcium, phosphorus is a constituent of and catalyst to the formation of
bone, teeth, and cells. Abundant in cells and tissue, it is needed to
form the energy bonds for carbohydrate metabolism. It helps form the
phospholipids used to convert vitamins and nutrients into energy.

Phosphorus also maintains the acid-base balance which helps in

lowering blood viscosity.
The Calcium/Phosphorus ratio is 10 parts calcium to 4 parts
phosphorus, creating a 2.5 ratio. This Calcium/Phosphorus ratio is of
great value in detecting subtle hormonal imbalances.
Calcium and Magnesium:
Magnesium plays a key role in both carbohydrate and protein
metabolism and can be lost through the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys,
and in the sweat.
Approximately one-third is bound to protein; the rest exists in a free
state.
The serum magnesium is not reflective of total magnesium stores.
Approximately 2/3 to 3/4 of magnesium in blood is not attached to
protein. It occurs in the serum as approximately a 5:1 ratio to serum
calcium.
Calcium & Vitamin D:
There is a lot of confusion regarding vitamin D. A lot of doctors
prescribe mega doses of synthetic vitamin D as a calcium pre-cursor.
Vitamin Ds only real job is to take calcium from the gut and put it into
the bloodstream. Why so many doctors are prescribing thousands of
milligrams of vitamin D along with Calcium Carbonate (a non-utilizable
form of calcium) to try and improve bone health is beyond me.
Another interesting aspect of vitamin D is in regard to the sun. The sun
provides an adequate amount of vitamin D. If someone is out in the
sun too long and is over-exposed, it will exhaust that persons calcium
reserve. The extra vitamin D from the sunlight pulls calcium out of the
tissues and puts it back into the blood stream. This excess vitamin D,
along with the pulling of calcium back into the bloodstream is the
reason why people whove been out in the sun too long get thick,
hardened skin.
Calcium and Vitamin F:
Vitamin Ds antagonist is vitamin F. Vitamin D pulls calcium from the
gut and puts it into the blood. Vitamin D also pulls calcium from the
tissues and puts it back into the blood. It literally locks the calcium in
there. If someone has a high blood calcium level, but via special test
shows that their tissues are deficient in calcium, they dont need
vitamin D, they need vitamin F. Vitamin F does the opposite of vitamin

D. It takes calcium from the blood and puts it into the tissues where it
can be utilized.
Remember, bone is a tissue. Bone is formed from a collagen-protein
framework, into which minerals are deposited. Bone matrix is formed
from specific proteins and collagen fibers creating a matrix not unlike
the steel infrastructure of a building. It constitutes 1/3 of bone
composition, with mineral salt deposits helping to form about 2/3 of
bone composition. Minerals harden bone like concrete being poured
into a building, but bone is much more flexible. Many minerals
compose bone including calcium, zinc, manganese, boron, and silica.
Many vitamins are needed for minerals to deposit into bone structure
including vitamins A, C, D, E, F, and K.
Unlike buildings, bone is a living tissue and is constantly remodeling
(breaking down and building up). The body breaks down the old bone
to provide the building sites for new bone to rebuild. This is a normal
process to maintain healthy bones. This bone remodeling process
requires a constant supply of bone-building materials such as proteins,
vitamins and minerals. Fosomax-type drugs (the biophosphonates)
function by blocking the breakdown of old bone, which in turn,
interferes with the rebuilding of new bone. The result is that the bone
scan improves, but bone health does not.
Putting it all together:
So how does one determine their need for calcium, phosphorus,
vitamin D, or vitamin F? How about the other essential minerals
necessary in the bone matrix?
In an ideal situation, Serum Calcium levels should be measured via a
blood test, and the appropriate analysis of calcium in regard to
albumin, phosphorus, and magnesium should be ascertained. Once it is
determined if it is indeed Serum Calcium that is low, then vitamin D
can be utilized. If serum calcium levels are within normal range, or are
even above normal then maybe it is vitamin F that is deficient. There
are a lot of symptoms of either a vitamin D or vitamin F deficiency that
must be taken into account before the proper supplementation can be
utilized.
Prescribing every patient who has an abnormal bone density test
calcium and vitamin D supplements is an incredible disservice to the
patient, and as you can see is an extremely simplified way to at times
incorrectly treat a somewhat complicated problem.