Calcium D-glucarate Compared To Calcium Magnesium Carbonate

Calcium D-glucarate, better known as calcium glucarate, and calcium magnesium carbonate are both calcium salts. However, whereas calcium glucarate is used as a dietary supplement, calcium magnesium carbonate is a beautiful rock specimen found on coral atolls. Also known as dolomite, calcium magnesium carbonate has little use as a dietary supplement.

Calcium Glucarate

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer explains that the most important part of calcium d-glucarate is the glucarate moiety. Also known as glucaric acid, this structure is a sugar acid derived from glucose. Just like glucose, glucaric acid has six carbons. However, these carbon atoms do not bond together to form a ring structure like they do in the glucose molecule. Instead, they form a single chain of carbon atoms. Glucaric acid is found in oranges, broccoli and potatoes.

Glucaric Acid -- Uses

Pilot studies show that glucaric acid may have some value in treating cancer. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center states that patients with breast cancer often self-medicate with calcium glucarate supplements. Papers from the late 1990s, such as the animal study described by Z. Walaszek, et al., in the 1997 "Cancer Detection and Prevention" suggest that a metabolite of glucaric acid may exert anti-cancer action. Such studies have never been replicated in humans, so the safety remains unknown.

Dolomite -- Sources

Dolomite is found all over the world in old rock layers. It is formed at the the bottom of saline bodies of water. After the water evaporates, it becomes compressed into stone. Mineral specimen are vitreous to pearly in shades of white, pink, yellow and brown. Beautiful specimens can be found in Traversella, Italy; Navarra Province, Spain; Cumbria, England and other locations. In the U.S, it is found in Cherokee County, Kansas; Picher, Ottawa County, Oklahoma and other locales.

Dolomite -- Uses

Although ground-up dolomite is sold as a supplement, you are more likely to encounter this substance as a fertilizer. Organic gardeners use it to increase the pH and lower the acidity of the soil, a practice also referred to as "sweetening" the soil. It is also used to fertilize tomatoes. Used as a soil amendment, it gradually breaks down and provides minerals needed by plants. Great Vista Chemicals reports that dolomite used to be a popular dietary supplement until the 1980s, when an analysis of dolomite supplements showed they contained cadmium, mercury, lead and mercury.