Lead in calcium - Open to All Other Health Topics Message Board

klapham · 02-24-2004, 10:32 AM

I'm trying to find a good calcium supplement that contains calcium, magnesium and Vitamin D. If possible, I'd like to find a multivitamin that contains all 3. I was taking GNC women's ultra-mega. My doctor said to make sure it has no lead. Per GNC, it has a lead content of .5 mcg per 1,000mg. Don't know if this is good, bad or what. Anyone have any advice or recommendations?

zuzu8 · 02-24-2004, 12:34 PM

A very good calcium/magnesium/vitamin D supplement that I use is called LIQUID CALCIUM, sold in Whole Foods Markets. Even though the name says "liquid", these are in capsule form. Don't know if there are any Whole Foods in your area.
No sugar, starch, yeast, salt, wheat, corn or milk.
No preservatives, no lead, no artificial preservatives.

Recommended "serving size" is 3 caps daily.
With three caps you get:
100 IU Vitamin D
1000 mg Calcium
400 mg Magnesium
1 Mg Boron
25mg Horsetail

Other trace base ingredients: geletin, purified water, glycerin,soybean oil, lecithin, oil of evening primrose.

All good healthy safe stuff.

zuzu xx

kellie2 · 02-25-2004, 06:12 PM

Actually, unless you never go outside and never drink milk, you should't be taking any Vitamin D as your body doesn't get rid of the extra and it can turn toxic if you have too much in your body. Just 20 minutes of sunlight a day will give you all the vitamin D your body needs. Usually the only people who are told to take vitamin D as those who are house-bound or older women who have been diagnosed with osteoporosis, which is something I've never understood as once they have dense bones, suddenly taking vitamin D isn't going to help. Also, you don't want to take a calcium and magnesium pill combined, as the agent that's used to bind the two together is very difficult to break down, making both the calcium and magnesium not able to be absorbed well. You should take your magnesium separately.

That said, it's mainly going to come down to personal choice. I believe almost every calcium supplement on the market contains trace amounts of lead but it's not enough to harm you. The only one I know that doesn't contain lead is Tums, but I'm not about to take an antacid every day for my calcium. You may want to do a search and see if you can find reliable information on the lead content of these supplements so you're better informed. Everybody on here will have an opinion and a recommendation as to what's 'best', but maybe finding out a little more about trace amounts of lead in your body in general will help put your mind at ease and help you to make an informed choice based on what you know, not what someone else tells you. And if you want to do it the easy way, just drink 3-4 cups of milk a day and get your 100% of calcium that way.

Let us know what you find....

klapham · 02-26-2004, 01:05 PM

Thanks so much for the info. Following an illness, I have some bone loss and am osteopenic. The Vitamin D is supposed to help you absorb the calcium. The calcium depletes the magnesium from your body and that's the reason for that - but what you say is very interesting to me since the calcium suggested by my doctor always upsets my stomach and the doctor hasn't been able to say why. Maybe the combo of calcium and magnesium has something to do with it. I guess I was hoping for a miracle that would give me everything I need in one pill. Do you know how much time there should be between taking the calcum and magnesium?

kellie2 · 02-26-2004, 09:09 PM

Actually, I take my calcium and magnesium at the same time, and ideally your magnesium should be about half of the amount of calcium...in other words, if you take 400-600 calcium, you should be taking 250 magnesium. I also break mine up into two doses a day as your body can only absorb so much at one time. But what I do and take is suited for me after much research (51 yrs.old, 5'4" and weight at 112) so what is geared to someone my size and fitness may not fit someone else. As far as the minute amount of lead in calcium, no I would rather it wasn't in there, but I've looked at the alternatives that don't contain it, and some are made with additives that I either have never heard of (horsehair?) or don't particularly want to ingest. So when it comes down to making a decision, I decided after doing my own reading up on it that I would much rather take a calcium supplement with a minute amount of lead that won't hurt me anyway, then to take a chance on having dense bones and possibly fracturing a hip in ten years. And I also don't take vitamin D in supplement form as I manage to get enough sun during the summer months to last me through the winter. As I said earlier, twenty minutes a day of sunshine on your skin is more than enough to give you all the vitamin D your body needs.