Why Calcium is Essential for Adults and the Deadly Risks of Taking it Wrong

Why Calcium is Essential for Adults and the Deadly Risks of Taking it Wrong

If you think you know all there is to know about this essential mineral, you’re wrong. You might be surprised to learn that without calcium our brains can’t function. It isn’t just responsible for strong bones and teeth, it’s essential to good health! As we age, our calcium levels naturally decline. That’s why making sure you’re getting enough of this vital mineral is so important. 

Ever find that your focus is low? Or suffer from poor digestion and sluggish metabolism? These could be signs that your calcium levels are low. Calcium plays a critical role in heart health, muscle contraction, and even digestion! 

Calcium supports memory and productivity by enabling efficient neuronal communication, brain plasticity, energy production, and stress regulation, all of which are essential for cognitive function. When it comes to digestion, calcium works by aiding enzyme activation, muscle contractions for gastrointestinal movement, and regulating hormones that control metabolic processes. 

Calcium is a multitasker your body can’t do without.

But did you know there is a right and wrong way to take calcium? If you take it incorrectly, you’re putting your health and even your life at risk! In this blog, we delve into the crucial yet frequently overlooked role of calcium in the body and discuss why and how to supplement with it safely and effectively.

The Extensive Role of Calcium in Your Body

Here’s what it does:

  • Aids Focus and Learning: Calcium supports brain function by aiding neurotransmitter release, helping neurons communicate, which supports memory, learning, and focus. It also transmits signals between your brain and body for smooth coordination.
  • Supports Digestion: Calcium supports digestion by activating enzymes that help break down food. It aids in hormone secretion and helps maintain the body’s acid-base balance (pH Level), all essential for overall health.
  • Supports Muscle and Heart Function: Calcium is essential for muscle function, helping muscles contract and relax for everyday activities. Muscle contractions are also vital to your heart, ensuring a steady and regular heartbeat.
  • Enables Healthy Blood Clotting: When you get a cut, calcium kick-starts clotting to stop bleeding and aid healing.
  • Bone Health: It supports bone density, playing a crucial role in preventing osteoporosis, by reducing bone mineral loss.

What Age Does Calcium Start to Decline?

After age 30, our calcium levels naturally start to decline. By middle age, this process speeds up. This is when you might notice memory issues, difficulty focusing, slower digestion, or declining bone health.

What Happens When Calcium Levels Are Low: The Risks You Need to Know

With so many vital roles, getting your daily  dose of calcium is essential to keep your body in top shape. 

If your body doesn’t get enough calcium from your diet—essential for digestion, supporting muscle contractions, nerve signaling, and blood clotting—it compensates by pulling calcium from your bones and tissues to sustain these critical functions. While this mechanism ensures vital processes like muscle movement, heart rhythm, and nerve communication continue in the short term, it gradually weakens your bones and requires additional energy for the reabsorption process. Over time, if calcium intake remains insufficient, those vital processes begin to suffer as well, leading to serious health complications.

That’s where taking a supplement can make all the difference.

How to Take Calcium Safely

Even if you do get enough calcium from your diet, there is a pitfall: taking it alone isn’t enough! It needs help from vitamins D and K2 for your body to absorb and use calcium safely and effectively; without these two, it could end up in the wrong places and pose a danger to your health.

How Vitamins D and K2 Form the Ultimate Team

  • Vitamin D helps your intestines absorb calcium from your food or supplements.
  • Vitamin K2 helps make sure calcium is directed to the right places, like your bones, and not to the wrong places , such as your arteries, soft tissues, or kidneys. When calcium is deposited in the wrong areas, it can clog arteries, contributing to cardiovascular issues, or accumulate in the kidneys, potentially leading to kidney stones.

Vitamin D: The Absorption Helper

Here's how Vitamin D works:

  • Absorbing calcium:  Vitamin D helps your small intestine absorb calcium and get it into your bloodstream.
  • Regulating calcium: It keeps your calcium levels in check. If your calcium levels get too low, vitamin D tells your body to pull calcium from your bones.
  • Supporting bone health: Vitamin D helps bones stay strong by making sure calcium is used to build and maintain bone density.

Without enough vitamin D, the body cannot absorb enough calcium, leading to weak bones over time.

Vitamin K2: The Calcium Directioner

While Vitamin D helps absorb calcium, vitamin K2 makes sure it goes to the right places:

  • Directing calcium to bones: Vitamin K2 helps activate a protein that binds calcium to your bones, keeping them strong.
  • Preventing calcium buildup in soft tissues:  K2 prevents calcium from settling in places where it shouldn’t, like your arteries, kidneys, and heart. A collection of calcium in the walls of your heart’s arteries can mean a build-up of plaque, which could increase your risk of a heart attack.

How to Get Enough Vitamin D and K2

Most of us don’t get enough calcium, vitamin D, or K2 from our diets and sun exposure, which is the main source of Vitamin D. This is where calcium supplements like gummies can be a big help. Novomins Calcium, Vitamin D, and K2 gummies contain high-strength ingredients formulated by expert nutritionists and scientists.

They include 15 μg of vitamin D for better calcium absorption and 200 mcg of vitamin K2 to direct calcium to the right places. This delicious peach-flavoured formula is soft, chewy, and convenient to take on the go, unlike most tablets, no meal before is required!

Benefits of Taking Vitamin D and Vitamin K Together

This combination shows significant health and preventative benefits, making it an essential focus for overall health, cognitive function, and digestive health. Calcium supports your body in countless ways, so make sure you’re dosing up and getting the benefits: click here. Your body will thank you!

What went into this article:

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What went into this article:

1) Office of Dietary Supplements - Vitamin K. (n.d.). https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminK-HealthProfessional/

2) Aaseth, J. O., Finnes, T. E., Askim, M., & Alexander, J. (2024). The importance of vitamin K and the combination of vitamins K and D for calcium metabolism and bone health: a review. Nutrients, 16(15), 2420. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16152420

3) Branch, N. S. C. a. O. (2023, August 4). Calcium and vitamin D: important for bone health. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/calcium-and-vitamin-d-important-bone-health#:~:text=Calcium%20does%20more%20than%20build,raises%20the%20risk%20of%20osteoporosis.

4) Maresz, K. (2015, February 1). Proper calcium use: Vitamin K2 as a promoter of bone and cardiovascular health. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4566462/

5) Calcium-Vitamin D3-Vitamin K oral: Uses, side effects, interactions, pictures, warnings & dosing - WebMD

AUTHORED BY

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Dr Peter McQuillan
BDS, MFDS P1, Dip Ortho Founder & Chief Formulator
With over 15 years of experience in the healthcare sector, Dr McQuillan is a highly esteemed professional in the healthcare space.

REVIEWED BY

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Akil Memishi
BSc Hons Pharmacology, ICH GCP Founder & Chief Clinical Researcher
Akil Memishi, co-founder of Novomins, combines his extensive clinical research experience with a passion for developing scientifically-backed nutritional products.
Review Date:
10 January 2025
Next Review:
9 January 2027
Published On:
10 January 2025
Last Updated:
10 January 2025
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