Coral calcium health benefits

Introduction

Coral calcium comes from the salt of calcium from fossilized coral reefs. It is actually illegal to obtain the coral calcium from the actual coral reefs because they are endangered, that is why coral calcium often gets retrieved from the limestone deposits which once were actually part of a coral reef. Certain manufacturers market coral calcium as a dietary supplement and claim that it can provide numerous health benefits. Many researches have shown that all those claims could not be further from the truth and that the only benefit that coral calcium can provide is calcium supply for the human body. It does not mean that coral calcium supplements are bad, it just means that they are limited to only providing the human body with calcium.

Health Benefits of Calcium

Calcium is an essential mineral which is of vital importance for proper bone health and the prevention of certain medical conditions such as osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is known for affecting a large number of people so it is very important for the intake of calcium in the recommended doses of 1000 to 1200 milligrams per day. The main problem is that most people usually do not intake even half of their recommended daily requirement. Calcium is also very important for blood clotting, numerous cell membrane functions and even nerve conduction. Low levels of calcium may lead to malfunctioning of numerous different systems in the human body. One should also be careful not to intake too much calcium because that too can be harmful in its own way. Elevated levels of calcium in the blood usually mean that a person has ingested more than 3000 milligrams of calcium in a single day. This medical condition is also referred to as hypercalcemia. If the condition is also accompanied by low levels of phosphorus it may lead to the calcification of the soft tissue.

Calcium Supplements

Calcium citrate and calcium carbonate are the two main types of calcium supplements. Calcium carbonate provides larger amounts of calcium, but it is much harder to absorb than the calcium citrate. Calcium citrate is also usually much more expensive. Coral calcium fits into the group of calcium carbonate supplements although it does not come at a cheap price.