Your teeth and bones hold 99 percent of your body's calcium stores. The remaining calcium circulates through your blood, where it promotes normal blood vessel function, nerve communication and hormone secretion, among other tasks. If you find your typical diet lacks sufficient calcium, taking a supplement can fill in the holes. Supplemental calcium might also help treat a number of conditions. It typically come in two forms: calcium carbonate or calcium citrate. Talk to your doctor about the right dose.
Determining the Right Dose
Between food and supplements, the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements notes the tolerable upper intake limit for calcium as 2,500mg daily. When determining the right dose of calcium carbonate, you need to consider many factors, such as how much calcium you usually get from your diet, your reason for using it, whether you have a calcium deficiency and if you use medications that affect calcium levels. The University of Michigan Health System reports that doctors typically suggest adults take between 800 and 1,000mg of supplemental calcium. Taking all this into account, your doctor is the best person to determine the right dose.
Doses Used for Specific Conditions
The University of Michigan Health System reports the following suggested daily doses based on research and general recommendations from the medical community: 1,200 to 1,500mg for gestational hypertension, 500 to 1,200mg for lactose intolerance, 800 to 1,500mg for osteoporosis, 1,000 to 1,200mg for premenstrual syndrome, 1,000mg for breastfeeding support, 800 to 1,000mg for high cholesterol, 800mg for high triglycerides, 800 to 1,500mg for hypertension, 800mg for obesity, 1,200mg for amenorrhea, 1,000mg for depression, 1,000mg for dysmenorrhea, 1,000mg for gingivitis, 1,500mg for insulin resistance syndrome and 1,000 to 2,000mg for migraines.
Tips
Your body needs acid to fully absorb calcium carbonate. Take your supplement with a glass of orange juice or during or soon after eating, when the stomach acid produced from digestion will help absorb it. Elderly individuals, who often produce less stomach acid, might consider taking calcium citrate. You might also consider calcium citrate if you suffer from stomach ulcers, because carbonate is very alkaline and your body can sometimes produce too much acid to compensate for this.
Safety Considerations
Calcium carbonate might interfere with several medications. Harvard Health Publications advises you to wait two to four hours after taking antibiotics before taking your calcium supplement and waiting at least 30 minutes after taking osteoporosis drugs. Calcium supplements might decrease the effectiveness of calcium-channel blockers or beta-blockers. High calcium intake has been associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer and kidney stones.
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