There are tons of brands.
If you want to be constipated, take regular calcium pills. Otherwise try something like Citracal Plus (you have to take two to equal one of the regular kind).
Regular calcium pills haven't constipated me.
Hi Norm: It's best to get as much calcium from your diet as you can, and then when deciding on what form of calcium supplement you want i.e. citrate or carbonate, pick the one that has the largest amount of elemental calcium. You can figure this out by looking at the label and the percentage of elemental calcium it lists.
Usually calcium carbonate has more elemental calcium, but I would check the labels first, to be sure. It would also depend on personal preferences like the size of the pill, or if you want a liquid form etc.
It's important when you are adding up the total amount of calcium, for the day, you include the food totals as well as supplement totals.
Norm,
I've read that calcium hydroxyapatite absorbs better. At the moment I'm taking Jarrow's "Bone Up" which has calcium hydroxyapatite as well as a other ingredients that are important for bone health. I purchased it at vitacost.com. They have terrific prices. They also have another brand - NSI - that has the exact same formula but is less expensive. I was dubious about the NSI brand but I've used melatonin by NSI and it worked so I may try it as well at some point.
Thanks for the different recommendations. I myself take for the moment 2 pills of calcium carbonade, each 500 mg plus Vitamin D3 200 UI per day. I may have to go up to 1200 mg per day.
My doctor whom I shall see soon, told me years ago that calcium is not fully absorbed by the body, even if you add vitamin D3.He still did not have a better solution; adding the calcium from food, is a good idea but how do you measure this?
Hi Franceline: Below is a link from the National Institute of Health that should help you to total up your calcium totals in food, and give you info on your calcium questions.
The new recommendation for D3 is 1000 IU's a day, has your Dr said anything about this to you? Calcium is 1200 mgs. These totals are for those that *don't* have some sort of mineral metabolism problem, where they need to limit or exceed the recommendations.
If you scroll to the top of the links page, you can go through the whole section on calcium, section by section.
If you are totaling package foods, you can get the percentage of calcium off the label, and keep track of it that way, like yogurt, milk, cheese, etc,.
You can only absorb 500 mgs at a time so it's good to split up the dose, plus add your dietary totals.
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/calcium.asp#h3
i get my calcium pills at www.nutrayoung.com as well as many other vitamins. i find it easy to use and i like the brief description of the pills. its cheap and if i want to know more in-depth about i just do additional research on the product. hope this helps!
Hi Celtic Rose.. what a nice name
I have 2 questions for you.. you mentioned using Bone Up as I was considering this supplement
How do you find it? I was a bit hesitant where it contains phosphorus 500 mg where I eat a fair amt of meat now? Is it 6 caps a day I guess you could do 2 with each meal. Also the melatonin I am in the midst of trying that for sleep how many mg guess you start of low and go up did it make you groggy at day. Will appreciate your response
Libby.........my goodness...I am so glad I read your reply on Citracal....for two months I have only been taking 630mg each day........Lord help me........I did not understand since my brain injury........I don't have the Citracal Plus but when it said two capsules is 630 I thought that meant just two capsules in each day not 4 tablets a day to make it 1,260 mg per day........I can't believe this........so I have to take two in the morning to equal 630mg I guess........ugh........so I will be taking 4 per day now. Again, thank you for your post.........Victoria
Hi Allli,
I adjusted to the Bone Up without any problem. I get detox symptoms at the "drop of a hat" so I introduce all new substances very slowly. I started with one pill then went up to two after a few days. I should take 9 a day to equal 1500 mg of calcium. I can only split it into two doses a day as I take two dose of thyroid medication (you can't take calcium near the thyroid meds) and I'm taking Strontium right now (you can't take that near calcium either.) There aren't enough hours in the day!
I take melatonin, too. I only need 500 mg as I'm so sensitive. It's hard to find it in less than 1,000 mg so I get tablets and break one in two. I'm not groggy the next day as long as I don't take more than 500 mg.
Hope this helps!
Celtic Rose
What about liquid calcium? Is there any brand that is best?
My doctor told me to get Caltrate 600+D Plus Minerals
CHEWABLES. (These have a higher dose if Vit D) Take twice a day with a meal.
I take Viactiv chews. Each chew has 500 mg of calcium as well as Vitamins D and K. They are delicious and non constipating.
Hi Sharo, check Lifetime liquid calcium which comes in different flavors (calcium citrate). I'm not sure if it is the best, but it's easy to take. www.vitaminshoppe.com ---- also check www.amazon.com
I have been on Oscal Ultra 600 mil + D twice daily for a total of 1200 mil & as long as taken with food I am ok.
That along with my Fosamax is all I take for the past yr since diagnosed with Osteoporosis & I am going for a test to see if my body is absorbing all of it next week as my scores from last year got worse on the spine.
Update: My family doctor told me since I was taking Caltrate600+D chewables to continue taking them. Today I went to see my Ob/Gyn doctor and she told me to stop taking Caltrate because they were not that good. She said to take calcium citrate that it is the best calcium that you can take. Anything else is cheap calcium and as women our bodies need more as we get older. Calcium citrate brand name is Citrical. You have to take more pills to get your mg's and she told me that I could purchase the generic. It is the same. Women in 50's like me she said to take no less than 1500mg daily but it would not hurt to go up to 2000mg. We need to keep our bones strong so we don't get fractures as we get older. I hope that this has helped.
There are a ton to choose from. http://citracal.com/
Norm, I purchased Citracal w/ VitD (generic) 630mg on bottle with VitD 400IU. On the bottle it states Supports Bone Health Maximum Caplet Dose. It takes 2 pills to get 630mg. I take 2 at breakfast,lunch,dinner daily. KathyG
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