Calcium Intake and Weight Loss: For More than Just Strong Bones
By: Dr. Christopher Mah
http://www.fitandfunctional.com
When people think of calcium they instantly think of the mineral responsible for building strong bones. Well that’s only a small part of the big picture. Without other key nutrients, calcium would not be absorbed and “strong bones” would not occur. If you are interested in how to build “strong bones” refer to my article on osteoporosis. What I did come across however is a good study on weight loss and calcium supplementation. If you are interested, at www.pubmed.com there is an excellent study by Michael Zemel: “Regulation of Adiposity by Dietary Calcium” June 2000.
For those of you who are not as excited in reviewing scientific literature, I am going to summarize it in layman’s terms below. I am then adding a “take away” section which is what this means to you and what you should do about it, so if you are really not into science you can skip directly to that.
The Summary
Increasing dietary calcium in obese patients for one year resulted in a 4.9 kg loss of body fat. Dietary calcium appears to modulate the efficiency of energy utilization. Low calcium diets favor increase energy storage (storing more calories as fat). High calcium diets reduce energy efficiency and favor increased energy thermogenesis (you burn more calories and have a better basal metabolic rate). In the study, the rats fed the higher calcium diets had higher core temperatures confirming the rise in metabolic rate. The major obesity study, NHANES III found these same results with the participants with the highest calcium intake had the lowest risk of obesity.
The suggested physiology behind this is that low calcium diets stimulate the release of a hormone called calcitrol which increases intracellular stores of calcium in fat cells which in turn decrease lypolysis (the use of fat for energy). Conversely, high calcium diets decrease the release of calcitrol thus increasing lypolysis.
The take away
A diet high in Calcium will increase the use of fat for energy by decreasing the amount of the hormone calcitrol released. Strive to get your primary calcium intake from your diet than supplement to get it up to ideal amounts. Remember calcium is a mineral which means it is a rock, so the form you get can significantly effect the amount you can actually absorb: this can vary from 5-40% in absorption (try a chelated version for better absorbability). You don’t have to overload with a calcium supplement though, since you will be getting a good amount in your diet. You will need a 500-1000mg a day supplement.
The other thing you should do is eat fruits and vegetables, and green drinks with your daily servings, as these are alkalinizing and reduce the acid load from the dairy. When your body is hit with an acid load it has to draw calcium from the bones to buffer the ph back up to normal. You will see in the meals and snacks I recommend that the low fat sources of dairy like yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, goat cheese, and string cheese, are combined with fruit and veggies for that reason