There is a dearth of information out there telling you how important calcium is for your bones and teeth, but did you know that getting enough calcium is important for more than ‘just’ bones and teeth? It’s important for a number of essential functions in your body.
Before we even unpack how important calcium is to your cardiovascular system (heart and blood), as well as your muscles and body weight, it’s important to understand that calcium doesn’t work alone.
Calcium in fact works optimally with the help of Vitamin D, especially when it comes to reducing bone fracture rates. In addition, Vitamin K2, combined with Vitamin D3 has been found to increase bone turnover and promote bone formation. Vitamin D is also needed for calcium absorption and prevents calcium loss through the urine. These three elements, Calcium, Vitamin D and Vitamin K2 work synergistically – which is why Menacal.7™ was formulated to include these three key ingredients in order to provide the optimal amount of calcium to the body, with optimal support for absorption.
If calcium isn’t only being used to build bones and teeth, what other roles does it fulfil in our body? We mentioned that calcium plays an important role in our cardiovascular system – and it does. Calcium plays a role in blood clotting, maintaining the action of the heart and relaxing the smooth muscle surrounding the blood vessels (1). Keeping your heart beating sounds like a good reason to get your daily calcium requirement in, however, it’s really important to note that taking more calcium than you need on a daily basis can actually be harmful. Too much supplemental calcium can actually cause calcifications in the arteries. This can lead to atherosclerosis and make you more susceptible to heart attacks and stroke! It is therefore important to get your supplemental calcium, at the right dose. Studies have found that woman should aim to get approximately 500mg/day of calcium, as an optimal dose, together with a calcium rich diet, see some calcium rich food ideas here. Menacal.7™ provides 500mg of calcium, together with Vitamin D3 and K2.
Another less well known function of calcium is the role of calcium in muscle contraction. Calcium helps to regulate muscle contraction – when a nerve signals for a muscle to contract, the body releases calcium. In turn, the calcium helps the proteins in the muscle to work. When the body pumps the calcium out of the muscle, the muscle relaxes.
When we look at body weight regulation, we find that calcium and Vitamin D play a role. A number of studies have found that calcium causes a slight increase in the amount of fat excreted, which contributes to energy loss, and Vitamin D may result in improved insulin sensitivity, once again highlighting the benefit of combining calcium and Vitamin D in a single supplement.
With all the critical roles in your body, you can now understand why it’s super important to get enough calcium into your body on a daily basis. Ideally you want to find a supplement that offers you 500mg of calcium, plus Vitamin D3 and Vitamin K2, which, as we’ve discussed, both help with absorption and bone formation. A supplement like Menacal.7™, combined with a healthy and calcium rich diet can help ensure your body is getting all the calcium it needs to do all it’s jobs perfectly – just like it should!
