The Calcium Lie: How Women Should Protect Their Bodies

Many of us have been led to believe a piece of conventional “wisdom” that is taking a significant toll on our health—especially on women and children.

The conventional wisdom, more accurately described as ignorance, is that we need an abundance of prescription drugs and vitamin supplements, including calcium, to have strong bones and overall good health.

Bones are composed of at least a dozen minerals and we need all of them in perfect proportions in order to have healthy bones and healthy bodies. Osteoporosis is caused by a loss of minerals from the bones, not just a loss of calcium, and we cannot possibly replace minerals with calcium alone—which hardens like concrete!

Consuming too much calcium—through food sources or by taking supplements—sets us up for an array of negative health consequences including obesity, type 2 diabetes, type 2 hypothyroidism, hypertension, depression, problem pregnancies, dementia, heart disease, kidney stones, gallstones, and more.

Mineral deficiencies are at the root of a host of health problems, and using flavor-of-the-month drugs or vitamins compounds the problem. These mineral deficiencies especially affect women, children, and women who are experiencing menopause. If you suffer from a mineral deficiency, read on to learn how to balance your health.

• The mineral cost of pregnancy: Women become very vigilant about their health during pregnancy because they know it affects their babies. Although there are many differences of opinion among the general public on what is best, it is a known fact that pregnant women give about 10 percent of their total mineral supply to their babies. So, while pregnant, the average woman loses nearly four pounds of minerals to her baby.
• Don’t underestimate the long-term benefit of using unrefined sea salt: Skilled and experienced farmers know that unrefined sea salt is essential to the health of their animals. For more than 50 years, farmers have known that sea salt, or rock salt, is essential for their stock to remain healthy and to breed without birth defects. Although we’re not farm mammals, all mammals do have similar physiology. Further, unrefined salt, which is the best source of sodium and ionic minerals, may have similar benefits for pregnant women and their children.

I want to emphasize that this is a long-term benefit. Minerals gained from using unrefined sea salt—which yields 15 percent trace ionic minerals—should have similar benefits for human pregnancy in helping to prevent birth defects and miscarriage.

• The problems women experience with menopause: It’s estimated that up to 40 percent of perimenopausal (nearly menopausal) women have low thyroid function that adds to their symptoms when their hormones begin to fluctuate, but I believe this is far too conservative of a figure. More realistically, it’s near 90 percent or more and hypothyroidism is probably near 95 percent, especially if a woman is more than 20 percent above her ideal body weight. In addition to hypothyroidism, excessive calcium contributes to dementia and other menopausal problems. To be clear, excess calcium, usually from supplementation and fortification in foods, leads to these problems.
• Consider bioidentical hormones: There is overwhelming biological evidence that bioidentical hormone replacement is not only natural and safe, but it also improves the quality of life and reduces breast cancer incidence, heart disease, stroke, dementia, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, and nearly all known chronic illnesses associated with aging. Balanced physiologic transmucosal bioidentical hormone replacement is the specific method to consider.

If you get too much calcium, through food sources or by taking supplements, you set yourself up for an array of negative health consequences, including obesity, Type 2 diabetes, Type 2 hypothyroidism, hypertension, depression, problem pregnancies and more.  Make sure that you discuss your calcium needs with your healthcare provider.