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CALCIUM IN PEAK ADVANTAGE
QUESTION:
I
recently started taking Peak Advantage and I want to know if it
contains adequate calcium for a woman in her 60's, or do I need
to take additional supplements. I read the ingredients on the label,
but calcium is listed in three places, so I am not sure which type
is necessary to combat osteoporosis. Thank you. Pat
ANSWER:
Dear Pat,
Thanks for your email. For most people the amount of Calcium in
Peak Advantage is sufficient. However, the only way to know whether
or not you are consuming adequate amounts of Calcium for your body's
specific needs, is to test your bone mineral turnover rate. This
can be done by measuring the amount of N-Telopeptide (NTX) in your
urine.
Every month your body excretes a certain amount of Calcium and Collagen
from the bones and replaces it with new Collagen and Calcium. Collagen
is use to make the protein matrix of the bone upon which the Calcium
is laid down. Your normal turnover amount of NTX should be 38units
or less. Higher amounts mean you are losing more bone than you are
replacing and you need to increase your intake Calcium and other
associated bone nutrients, including as Vitamin D, Vitamin K, Magnesium,
and Boron.
Peak Advantage contains a total of 400mg of Calcium, derived from
2000mg of Calcium-Citrate the most easily absorbed form of Calcium.
All forms of Calcium are bound to something. Calcium is never found
all by itself. To get 400mg of Calcium in our multivitamin, we must
add 2000 mg of Calcium-Citrate (400mg Calcium, bound to 1600mg of
Citrate). Citrate has healthful benefits of its own, including the
production of energy.
Although Calcium Citrate is the most easily absorbed form of Calcium,
many companies use other inferior forms of Calcium, like Calcium
Carbonate (the most commonly used form), because they are cheaper
and take up less space in a capsule. Calcium Citrate is twice as
well absorbed as Calcium Carbonate. It takes 800mg of Calcium Carbonate
to equal 400mg of Calcium Citrate, because Calcium Citrate is absorbed
twice as well as Calcium Carbonate.
I recommend that you test you bone mineral density annually to make
sure you are meeting your Calcium needs for optimal bone health.
To learn more about OteoWatch (NTX Bone Density Testing), please
click
here:
Best in health,
Dr. Hansen
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