coral calcium

[SJJK]

Anyone hear of any benefits of taking coral calcium?

[JackieG]

I've seen the infomercials by Barefoot. Seems too good to be true (Barefoot says it cures just about everything). I ran his name through the search engine on Quackwatch, and the search came up empty. That could mean that they just haven't had time to reaearch this topic or Barefoot.

I generally tend to doubt anything that sounds too good to be true (it usually is), especially when the source is an infomercial on TV.  Hopefully, someone will respond to your question with some research or feedback from their MDs.

[Andydrew]

Corals are being researched for medicinal properties but I have heard nothing about calcium benefits, even as a basic supplement. Not sure the calcium in corals would be any different than calcium carbonate. It's basically a secretion from the calcium producing coral animal.

Reminds me of when they were touting that shark cartilage protected humans from cancer because sharks didn't get cancer. There is no proven medicinal value to shark cartilage. Waste of money and precious HOPE!

Andy

[HealthyGuy]

calcium is extremely important...each night your body robs your bones of calcium to alkalinate your blood...if the ph level of your blood is too acidic then disease can flourish in the human body...that is one reason for the many healings of all types by coral calcium users because at night the body uses calcium to balance the ph level of the blood.  In addition calcium has some 100 other MAJOR uses in the human body...again the reason for the success of coral calcium.  Coral calcium is NOT the same as calcium carbonate and the type of calcium used is very very important.  Calcium caronate is the number one poorest choice since the human body can only use 3 percent of whatever calcium carbonate is taken according to reliable information i have heard.  The other 90 percent contributes to arthritis, stones and other problems.  So do NOT take calcium carbonate ever!...and avoid products like soy milk that chooses this cheap and dangerous form.  The most usable calcium on the other end of the scale is chelated calcium. Reliable information says that the body can use 80-95 percent of this type of calcium.  Coral calcium is not chelated and falls somewhere between 3 and 80 percent usable.  neutral studies may be difficult to find, so its better to stick with the main studies which all show that chelated calcium is the best.  The other factor whihc i have started reading on recently is that protein can hinder calcium digestion.  This is an important issue i suggest looking into as well.  I was recently advised to take calcium at night by itself as it is used at night heavily and won't complicate digestion.