Coral Calcium – The answer to how do you spell HYPE?

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Coral Calcium – The answer to how do you spell HYPE?

Jun 23, 2005 18:55 PDT

 

 

Introduction

 

As one of the leading proponents of natural products, I am a firm

believer in the value of proper nutritional supplementation. Over the

years, however, I have been angered by the shameless marketing of bogus

products with unsubstantiated, absolutely ridiculous claims. The latest

in this growing list of shame is “coral calcium.” Since I am fielding an

ever growing number of questions about this product, I have decided to

finally address it formally. Be patient, read the whole article and you

will hopefully see that while it is true that calcium is an essential

mineral, coral calcium is not quality calcium supplement.

 

What is coral?

 

Coral is composed of tiny, fragile living organisms called coral polyps.

The coral polyps take calcium carbonate or limestone from the sea and

build protective structures around themselves. As coral polyps die, new

generations of coral polyps then grow on top of the coral and coral

reefs are formed.

 

While coral reefs cover less than 1% of the planet's surface, they are

homes to over 25% of all marine life (over 4,000 different species of

fish, 700 species of coral, and thousands of other plants and animals).

Since coral reefs are among the world's most fragile and endangered

ecosystems, strict laws are enforced to preserve them.

 

What is coral calcium?

 

Since it is severely illegal to mine “live” coral reefs, coral calcium

has to come from a different source. So what is the source? Marketers

tell us that it is either taken from old seabeds buried in the so-called

“pristine” desert; or mined from “fossilized coral sands that

accumulated on the sea floor;” or harvested from “only coral that washes

up on the shore.” Sounds good, right? The bottom line, however, is that

it doesn’t make much difference.

 

What is the hype?

 

What the marketers of coral calcium do is exploit and exaggerate the

known importance and function of calcium and then try to tie those

benefits and more to their product. Here is just a brief list of the

diseases claimed to be miraculously cured by coral calcium:

 

Cancer Diabetes Arthritis

Heart Disease Osteoporosis Eczema

Alzheimer's Disease Fibromyalgia High Cholesterol

Muscle Cramps Kidney Stones Gallstones

Gout Indigestion Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Lupus Hiatal Hernia Hypertension

Headaches and many, many more.

 

Wow!! Wouldn’t it be fantastic if it were true that coral calcium could

cure all of these diseases? While it is true that in most of these

diseases you can find a small, indirect association between calcium and

the disease, the marketers take it way over the top.

 

Is coral calcium a superior form of calcium?

Sorry, it is not. The calcium content of coral calcium ranges from 24%

to 38% and is composed primarily of calcium carbonate. The marketers

often call it “aragonite” or “calcite” to confuse and mislead the masses

into thinking it is something different than the chief ingredient of

Tums. Marketers use the “coral story” to hype their product, but just

like mined land sources of calcium (e.g., limestone and dolomite), the

bottom line here is that the calcium is bound in the form of an

inorganic salt.

 

There are considerable dangers of using these mined sources of calcium,

whether it comes above sea level or below, or whether the source is

fossilized coral, limestone, or dolomite. What is the danger? For

millions of years, volcanoes have been spewing their molten lava and ash

full of poisonous heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium and iridium.

Although I have not seen a detailed analysis of heavy metals for a coral

calcium product, even the marketers acknowledge the high content of

aluminum by stating that their product contains montmorillonite. Some

will tell us that montmorillonite is a natural clay that comes from

volcanic ash. Others will come clean and recognize it as colloidal

aluminum silicate.

 

I should point out that there has been one study comparing the

absorption of coral calcium to calcium carbonate.1 However, this study

is fraught with methodological errors and used urinary calcium

measurements instead of more accurate measurements of calcium absorption

– after all it is not how much calcium that you excrete that is

important, it is how much you absorb and retain. No conclusions can be

made from this study as it looks like it was constructed simply to

promote coral calcium instead of answering more important questions.

 

Why should I avoid natural sources of calcium?

 

Again, the major problem is lead contamination. This issue has been

addressed in numerous studies looking at commercial calcium

supplements.2,3 In one study, the lead content of 136 brands of calcium

supplements was determined.2 The calcium in the products was derived

from natural sources (bonemeal, dolomite, or oyster shell) or was

synthesized and/or refined (chelated and nonchelated calcium such as

calcium citrate and carbonate). Two-thirds of those calcium supplements

failed to meet the acceptable lead levels (1.5 microg/daily dose of

calcium) in consumer products. The most likely products to contain lead

were the natural forms, while the products most likely not to contain

lead with products like calcium citrate or refined (purified) calcium

carbonate. The results from this study are consistent with all of the

others. It is quite alarming as lead from calcium supplements definitely

contributes to elevated lead levels in the body.4

 

So what is the best form of calcium?

 

The bottom line is that they most widely used form calcium carbonate -

appears suitable for most people.5,6 The possible exception is in people

who do not produce enough stomach acid, especially post-menopausal

women.7 But, even in these people it appears that by taking the calcium

carbonate with food that this shortcoming can be overcome.

 

While calcium bound to citrate and other Krebs cycle intermediates such

as fumarate, malate, succinate, and aspartate as well as lactate have

advantages over calcium carbonate in that they are (a) easily ionized,

(b) almost completely degraded and utilized by the body, © virtually

non toxic, and (d) able to increase the absorption of not only calcium,

but other minerals as well; the problem with these calcium supplements

is their bulk – it basically requires three to four times as many

capsules or tablets to provide the same level of calcium compared to

calcium carbonate sources.

 

It is also important to point out that microcrystalline calcium

hydroxyapatite – another hyped form of calcium - does not provide any

greater benefit than other forms of calcium including calcium carbonate.

In fact, in one study looking at five commercially available forms of

calcium, microcrystalline calcium hydroxyapatite was the poorest

absorbed.8

 

Advantages and disadvantages of the various forms of calcium

 

Form Disadvantages Advantages

Calcium carbonate May not be adequately absorbed in people with

insufficient output of stomach acid. Should be taken with foods for

maximal absorption. Inexpensive. Easier to take because it is not as

bulky as other forms.

Coral calcium, oyster shell calcium, dolomite, and bone meal May contain

high levels of lead and other impurities. Since these sources of calcium

are essentially calcium carbonate, it makes more sense to used purified

calcium carbonate products. None.

Calcium citrate; calcium bound to other Krebs cycle intermediates;

calcium gluconate; calcium lactate Larger molecule is bulkier than

calcium carbonate thus requiring more tablets/capsules to achieve the

same dosage as calcium carbonate. Easily absorbed regardless of the

output of stomach acid.

Calcium phosphate Poorly absorbed compared to other forms. Has a greater

effect in blocking the absorption of iron and other minerals. Least

likely to cause constipation.

Microcrystalline calcium hydroxyapatite Poorly absorbed compared to

other forms. More expensive. May exert additional benefits in bone

health due to other components.

 

 

References:

 

1. Ishitani K, Itakura E, Goto S, Esashi T. Calcium absorption from the

ingestion of coral-derived calcium by humans. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol

(Tokyo) 1999;45:509-17.

2. Scelfo GM, Flegal AR. Lead in calcium supplements. Environ Health

Perspect 2000;108:309-19.

3. Ross EA, Szabo NJ, Tebbett IR. Lead content of calcium supplements.

JAMA 2000;284:1425-9.

4. Gulson BL, Mizon KJ, Palmer JM, Korsch MJ, Taylor AJ. Contribution of

lead from calcium supplements to blood lead. Environ Health Perspect

2001;109:283-8.

5. Heaney RP, Dowell SD, Bierman J, Hale CA, Bendich A. Absorbability

and cost effectiveness in calcium supplementation. J Am Coll Nutr

2001;20:239-46.

6. Sakhaee K, Bhuket T, Adams-Huet B, Rao DS. Meta-analysis of calcium

bioavailability: a comparison of calcium citrate with calcium carbonate.

Am J Ther 1999;6:313-21.

7. Heller HJ, Greer LG, Haynes SD, Poindexter JR, Pak CY.

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic comparison of two calcium

supplements in postmenopausal women. J Clin Pharmacol 2000;40:1237-44.

8. Deroisy R, Zartarian M, Meurmans L, et al. Acute changes in serum

calcium and parathyroid hormone circulating levels induced by the oral

intake of five currently available calcium salts in healthy male

volunteers. Clin Rheumatol 1997;16:249-53.

 

 

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