The multidimensional role of calcium

Better Nutrition (1989-90), Jan, 1990 by Stephen Langer

The Multidimensional Role of Calcium

Calcium not only builds strong bones, it also protects the immune system, lower cholesterol and much more!

Calcium usually is associated with strong bones and teeth, muscle contraction and the healthy transmission of impulses through the nervous system.

But this valuable mineral makes many other important contributions, too -- some of them little-known and dramatic. Did you know that calcium protects your immune system from poisoning by heavy metals such as lead and cadmium that pollute our environment? Did you know that calcium helps to prevent cancer of the colon and rectum? Did you know that, along with magnesium and potassium, it can help prevent high blood pressure and that it helps make blood clotting possible? Did you know that this mineral can lower blood cholesterol?

We will begin with how calcium protects the immune system from heavy metal pollutants. Calcium is like an army in the blood-stream, defending against invaders such as lead and cadmium, ridding the body of them so they don't poison and disable the immune system.

If liberally supplied, calcium also forms the matrix of bones, much like chicken wire gives strength to plaster. When calcium is poorly supplied, pollutants such as lead and cadmium, as well as strontium 90, radioactive material from exploded atomic bombs, may be absorbed into the empty spaces, weakening bones and making them more susceptible to cancer.

Several surveys show that we have a tremendous lead burden -- 500 times more than that of even two generations ago. Cadmium also is a silent invader, leached from water pipes by soft water, inhaled in cigarette smoke and in air pollution.

A 19-year study of 2,000 men revealed that calcium and vitamin D appear to reduce the incidence of colon cancer. Men who drank no milk had three times the colon and rectal cancer than those who consumed foods rich in calcium and vitamin D.

How does calcium accomplish this? High fat diets, common in the United States, seem to encourage colon cancer by stimulating tumor growth when the colon is exposed to carcinogens. During digestion, fats are broken down into smaller parts, mainly free fatty acids, which are powerful irritants and occasionally toxic to the lining of the colon.

Calcium has been found to merge with the free fatty acids, changing them from assailants to passive colon occupants. Researchers strongly recommend that the amount of dietary fats and phosphorus be reduced and calcium increased to protect the colon and rectal areas from cancer.

Other diseases for which calcium offers its protective powers are cardiovascular ailments, particularly blood disorders. Research has firmly established that calcium is a major ingredient in blood clotting. Without sufficient calcium, many seriously injured people would bleed to death.

Calcium also helps to prevent or correct high blood pressure. A calcium deficiency can cause an overproduction of the hormones cortisone and aldosterone which in turn causes the kidneys to hold salt and water. The blood volume swells and results in high blood pressure.

Many years ago, Henry A. Schroeder, M.D., of Dartmouth Medical School, discovered that heart disease was comparitively low in areas of the United States where the water is hard, that is, high in calcium and magnesium. Dr. Schroeder found that communities in west Texas, where the water was richest in calcium and magnesium had the lowest rate of cardiovascular-related deaths.

Calcium actually lowers cholesterol. Harold Yacowitz, Ph.D., at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford, N.J., each day fed large amounts of calcium (710 milligrams in foods and 2,660 mg in supplements) to volunteers whose initial cholesterol levels were just under 250. Within four days, their cholesterol levels dropped an average of 14 points. Dr. Yacowitz then lowered the prescribed calcium level to 1,600 mg a day for three weeks. Blood cholesterol dropped by as many as 48 points, often removing individuals from dangerous levels. Triglycerides plummeted by as many as 115 points. The higher the cholesterol and triglyceride levels initially, the more significant their drop. Yacowitz found that the sharpest declines occurred during the first week and held firm until the end of the study.

Analysis by Yacowitz's research team also found that the cholesterol and triglycerides were not being deposited in the liver, arteries and various other tissues where they could do more harm. Calcium insured against such a problem by combining with fatty acids in the intestines and forming a calcium soap, which is eliminated in body wastes. As calcium intake increased, the amount of fat excreted increased.

Still another research project, performed for a different purpose, verified Yacowitz's discovery. Anthony A. Albanese, Ph.D., of the Burke Rehabilitation Center in White Plains, N.Y., experimented to see if calcium supplements would stop bone loss in post-menopausal women with osteoporosis. He discovered that just 1,025 to 1,200 mg of calcium daily not only increased bone density but also reduced blood cholesterol in a striking and statistically significant way.