Are you taking too much calcium and too little Vitamin D?

I recently interviewed Kent MacLeod, owner of Ottawa-based NutriChem Compounding Pharmacy and Clinic, and asked him what he is seeing with his clients. Kent has a clinic and biomedical lab where they perform a complete diagnosis of your health. He has found that people are coming to NutriChem with too high a level of calcium (largely brought on by usage of calcium supplements) and inadequate levels of Vitamin D.

His comment about Vitamin D surprised me given the amount of news that Vitamin D has received of late. Kent points out an interesting fact I did not know: 25% of the population do not have a linear relationship between their Vitamin D intake and the level of Vitamin D in their bodies – meaning that these people need to take higher levels of Vitamin D to build up enough Vitamin D to affect bone building.

The concern with too much calcium has been brought forward by recent studies on its effect. More studies are now confirming that more calcium is not necessarily better for bone health. A large study from Sweden published in the British Medical Journal indicates an elevated level of calcium does not improve bone strength. Kent states that in many countries with lower osteoporosis levels than Canada and the United States, the people are not taking calcium supplements.

Kent sees a wide range of clients with a variety of health issues including osteoporosis, osteopenia and low bone density. Clients are tested at NutriChem’s Biomedical Laboratory for their nutritional and metabolic status and then given a health program appropriate for them.

Her eis my interview with Kent:

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