Your body relies on calcium, a hard mineral, to maintain healthy bones and teeth. If you have trouble getting enough calcium in your daily diet, you may need to consider taking a calcium supplement. The two most widely used types are calcium citrate and calcium carbonate. Each has some differences in terms of absorption and other properties.
Absorption
If you have taken a calcium supplement before and found your stomach was upset, you likely took a calcium carbonate supplement. This is because calcium carbonate supplements require stomach acid to absorb. They are best tolerated on a full stomach, which encourages stomach acid production. If you choose to take calcium carbonate supplements, take them with food or after drinking orange juice, an acidic juice. Calcium citrate does not require added stomach acid for absorption. This means you can take calcium citrate on an empty stomach.
Elemental Calcium
Calcium supplements are measured in terms of elemental calcium, which is the amount of calcium your body can use. Calcium carbonate contains more elemental calcium than calcium citrate. When considering which supplement to buy, read the labels for how much elemental calcium each contains. If you do not see a label, calcium carbonate typically contains 40 percent elemental calcium while calcium citrate contains 21 percent, according to Go Ask Alice!, a health resource from Columbia University. For example, if you take a pill that contains 1,000 mg of calcium carbonate, you are taking in 400 mg of elemental calcium. If you take 1,000 mg of calcium citrate, you are taking in 210 mg of elemental calcium.
Pill Size
While you will have to take fewer pills than if you were taking calcium citrate, calcium carbonate tends to come in a larger pill. If you have difficulty swallowing pills, calcium carbonate may not be the best option for you. Calcium citrate is typically available in smaller pills, but you may have to take more each day to meet your requirements.
Warnings
If you suffer from a condition like acid reflux or other conditions related to excess acid in the stomach, taking calcium citrate may not be for you. That's because calcium citrate is an acid-based pill. If the acid in your stomach comes in contact with the acid in the calcium citrate supplement, the supplement will increase the amount of acid in your stomach.
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