Calcium Supplementation Effect on Weight Loss

Calcium and weight loss are seldom mentioned together in most weight loss forums and communities as this mineral serves a different purpose in our body.

But most diet experts today are now recommending calcium to help aid weight loss due to its alleged fat loss benefits. But cam calcium truly help boost weight loss?

So is there truly a secret slimming benefit from calcium? Will calcium supplementation boost your weight loss? Read on and learn how this essential mineral can help you lose weight.

What is Calcium and What does it Do?

Calcium is an essential mineral and is mainly found in our bones and teeth, but other systems also need calcium such as our heart, nerves and blood-clotting systems.

According to WebMD, the bones and teeth has over 99% of the calcium in the body, and the rest is found in muscles, blood and other tissues.

As we age, the amount of calcium in our body decline because it is constantly released from the body through sweat, skin cells, and waste. Hence, calcium supplementation is often prescribed by doctors to avoid deficiency.

So basically, calcium is mainly used for preventing calcium deficiency due to bone disorders such as osteoporosis, rickets, and osteomalacia.

People also use calcium for heartburn, kidney problems, indigestion, high cholesterol, stroke, high blood pressure, leg cramps in pregnancy, premenstrual syndrome, and even for reducing the risk of colon and rectal cancers.

You rarely hear people talk about calcium and weight loss as this mineral is known for strengthening bones and teeth.

WebMD also suggests that people with low-calcium levels are likely overweight or obese and have high body mass index compared to other people with high calcium intake.

So this may suggest that calcium has significant on weight. Lets learn more about calcium, read on.

Calcium-Rich Foods

Foods that are high in calcium include milk, cheese, green leafy vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, okra, etc.), soya beans, tofu, nuts, bread and anything made with fortified flour, and fish such as sardines and pilchards.

Egg shells are completely made of calcium so it is one of the best sources for you. Just crush and grind the shell and serve it as a food seasoning on your dishes or eat them straight, and you’ll get enough amounts of calcium for the day!

Other sources of calcium that you probably don’t know are seawead, salmon, sesame seeds, oatmeal, cheerios, oranges, turnip greens, almonds, kale, blackstrap molasses, dried figs, white beans and many more.

Foods that are fortified with calcium is also recommendable but of course, natural sources are the best for you.

On the other hand, calcium supplementation may give you your daily dose of calcium and most people tends to use supplements to help prevent having low calcium in their systems.

Reasons Why People Have Low Calcium Levels

There are various reasons why people tends to have low calcium levels. Most reasons are due to body disorders and some are due to vices.

Here are the common reasons why:

[list icon=”icon: info” icon_color=”#f42c38″]

• Lack of calcium intake
• Diseases such as osteopenia and osteoporosis
• Prescription medications
• Dietary intolerance
• Malabsorption
• Age
• Hormonal changes
• Vitamin D, K2, and magnesium deficiency
• Genetic factors

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People have low calcium levels because they simply don’t eat enough foods that are rich in calcium for a long period of time. This is one of the obvious reasons of calcium deficiency.

Intolerance such lactose intolerance or dairy allergy may also affect your levels of calcium. Gluten sensitivities and celiac leads to malabsorption of nutrients and inflammation.

Other vitamins are needed to keep your bones healthy, just as vitamins D, magnesium and K2. It is good to note that you won’t get calcium’s optimal health benefits without enough amounts of these vitamins.

Hormonal changes such as estrogen decline due to menopause affects women to have bone loss. Of course, aging is another reason why people have low calcium levels and this one is obviously unavoidable.

Calcium and Weight Loss

According to experts, we need large amounts of calcium to help sustain optimal health. Approximately, that is around 1 grams for adult men and women per day. That amount increases to 1.2 grams per day as we age.

As mentioned above, calcium is mostly stored in bones and teeth while the rest is found elsewhere in our bodies – blood, muscles, tissues and many others.

Calcium performs many tasks in the body such as helping your nerves and muscles to work properly, hormone secretion and many others, including weight loss!

While other agents are widely known to specifically aid weight loss such as glucommanan, fenugreek, CLA, chromium or guarana, calcium is completely unknown for its capacity to provide some measures of weight loss and it may even give direct weight loss effects.

So How Can Calcium Help You Lose Weight?

Unknown to many, there are several health studies that has proven calcium’s role in fat loss, weight control and even in appetite suppression.

A study compared a restricted-calorie diet (not including recommended dairy servings) to a restricted-calorie diet with dairy servings. They found out that those who took the dairy diet (more calcium) lost more weight.

Another weight loss study focusing on obese and calcium-deficient women lost more weight after taking a high calcium diet. This suggests that enough calcium intake do promotes weight loss.

The link between calcium and body weight suggests that this mineral tends to bind more fatty acids in the intestines. This results to better fat absorption inhibition, which keeps your body from storing more fat.

Experts also believe that high calcium intake can also trigger energy increase and fat balance.

Is Calcium Supplementation Necessary for Weight Loss?

Even though calcium can be acquired from foods, physicians still require calcium supplements to help boost their calcium levels significantly especially if the patients need adequate amount for disease treatment or health disorders.

Calcium supplementation is already a proven way to boost weight loss.

According to NCBI, the antiobesity effect of calcium supplementation during caloric restriction have improved body weight loss and fat in obese women.

An article from WebMD also suggests the efficacy of calcium supplementation on weight loss. According to Dr. Robert Heaney, “women with the highest diary intake have an average weight gain of ZERO, and those with the lowest dairy intake gained a pound per year”.

It is also good to note that both animal and human studies with regards to the effect of calcium on weight loss, showed positive results.

So yes, calcium supplementation can definitely help boost your weight loss!

Our Recommended Calcium Supplement for Weight Loss

There are dozens of dietary supplements in the market, and calcium-based products are widely available both in the Internet and in your local supplement stores.

But if you want to lose weight, I suggest that you take diet pills that offers both calcium and other ingredients that are known to promote fat loss, appetite suppression and metabolic boost.

This way, you can further increase your chances of weight loss and maintain a healthy weight for long period of time.

For this, I highly suggest one of our recommended brands here – PhenQ.

This diet pill has potent amounts of calcium while providing you with other slimming agents such as L-Carnitine, synephrine, caffeine, capsicum and tongkat ali extracts.

Learn more about PhenQ on our review by clicking on the link below this post.