Does Calcium Aid Digestion?

Calcium is a mineral your body needs for many essential functions, including muscle control, creating blood-coagulating enzymes and maintaining bone density. It does not significantly improve your ability to digest other nutrients, however. Calcium is not a mineral that your body absorbs well unless certain conditions are met, and it may even inhibit the absorption of other nutrients in your digestive tract.

Muscular Contractions

Any effect from calcium on your digestion comes from its impact on muscle control. Muscles along your digestive tract help move food through your body and the various stages of digestion. Without calcium in your muscles, they are unable to respond to the electrical impulses from your nervous system that control muscle contraction and relaxation. A lack of calcium-controlled muscle contractions along your digestive tract would inhibit food's progression through your intestines for complete digestion.

Calcium Deficiency

If you are concerned that you do not get enough calcium in your diet to promote healthy muscle function, there are many steps you can take to improve your intake of the mineral. The primary way is eating more calcium-rich foods, such as milk, yogurt, cheese, dark green vegetables and calcium-fortified foods like orange juice. You may also need to avoid foods high in oxalic acid, phytates, dietary fiber and tannins, as they can bond with calcium or hurry it through your digestive tract before you can absorb it. In cases of severe calcium deficiency, your doctor may recommend a calcium or carbonate or calcium citrate supplement.

Vitamin D

Calcium cannot pass through the lining in your stomach and intestines on its own. It requires the enzyme calbindin to carry it across these cells and into your bloodstream. Your body produces calbindin from vitamin D, which most people obtain from milk and exposure to the sun. In this way, calcium creates less impact on other nutrients than a nutrient like vitamin D has upon it.

Other Nutrients

Emerging research indicates that calcium may be inhibitory to the digestion of other nutrients in your diet. A 2011 study of various minerals in the “Journal of Nutrition” showed that calcium can limit your body’s ability to absorb carotenoids, which are dietary antioxidants that prevent age-related cellular degradation. Of the four minerals examined in the trial, iron and zinc had the greatest impact on carotenoid absorption, compared to calcium and magnesium, however. High calcium intake may also decrease iron and magnesium levels in your body, as these minerals compete for the same absorption pathway in your digestive tract.