Calcium carbonate vs calcium citrate.... Citrate wins.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/323/13/878

A controlled trial of the effect of calcium supplementation on bone density in postmenopausal women

B Dawson-Hughes, GE Dallal, EA Krall, L Sadowski, N Sahyoun, and S Tannenbaum

Find Similar Articles
PubMed Citation

Abstract

Background. The effectiveness of calcium in retarding bone loss in older postmenopausal women is unclear. Earlier work suggested that the women who were most likely to benefit from calcium supplementation were those with low calcium intakes. Methods. We undertook a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial to determine the effect of calcium on bone loss from the spine, femoral neck, and radius in 301 healthy postmenopausal women, half of whom had a calcium intake lower than 400 mg per day and half an intake of 400 to 650 mg per day. The women received placebo or either calcium carbonate or calcium citrate malate (500 mg of calcium per day) for two years. Results. In women who had undergone menopause five or fewer years earlier, bone loss from the spine was rapid and was not affected by supplementation with calcium. Among the women who had been postmenopausal for six years or more and who were given placebo, bone loss was less rapid in the group with the higher dietary calcium intake. In those with the lower calcium intake, calcium citrate malate prevented bone loss during the two years of the study; its effect was significantly different from that of placebo (P less than 0.05) at the femoral neck (mean change in bone density <+/- SE>, 0.87 +/- 1.01 percent vs. -2.11 +/- 0.93 percent), radius (1.05 +/- 0.75 percent vs. -2.33 +/- 0.72 percent), and spine (-0.38 +/- 0.82 percent vs. -2.85 +/- 0.77 percent). Calcium carbonate maintained bone density at the femoral neck (mean change in bone density, 0.08 +/- 0.98 percent) and radius (0.24 +/- 0.70 percent) but not the spine (-2.54 +/- 0.85 percent). Among the women who had been postmenopausal for six years or more and who had the higher calcium intake, those in all three treatment groups maintained bone density at the hip and radius and lost bone from the spine. Conclusions. Healthy older postmenopausal women with a daily calcium intake of less than 400 mg can significantly reduce bone loss by increasing their calcium intake to 800 mg per day. At the dose we tested, supplementation with calcium citrate malate was more effective than supplementation with calcium carbonate.

[davidwparker]

1. Also, vitamin D is needed to help with calcium absorption.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Soluble silica helps, ipraflavone, magnesium... a truly

good bone building formula has all of them.


Not many people are familiar with ipraflavone, so I will add this here:

http://www.ostivone.com/boneHealth/index2.html
"In the early 1980s, pharmaceutical companies in Eastern Europe, Italy, and Japan started investigating ipriflavone's ability to enhance bone density," explains Lee. "Since the mid to late 1980s, ipriflavone has been an approved therapeutic agent for osteoporosis prevention and treatment in Europe and Japan." Dr. Anderson believes ipriflavone is "perhaps the most thoroughly examined compound in the natural health industry." Ipriflavone has been shown to:

Stimulate the synthesis and secretion of calcitonin, a hormone that promotes calcium metabolism.
Stimulate bone formation while increasing bone mineral density.
Decrease fracture rate and complement prescription estrogen therapy.
Ipriflavone has an impressive scientific record. It has been the subject of more than 60 different clinical studies in Italy, Japan, and Hungary, featuring almost 2,800 patients with confirmed osteoporosis. There have been more than 16 randomized, placebo-controlled human studies, with all of them demonstrating either maintenance of bone mineral density or an increase. Dozens of articles have been featured in the scientific literature on ipriflavone's influence on bone structure. The scientific community is also eagerly awaiting the results of a large multicenter trial on fracture prevention in Italy, expected to be published soon.

Healthcare professionals in the United States are also witnessing positive clinical results. Popular radio host and medical director of the Hoffman Center in New York City, Ronald Hoffman, M.D., has many ipriflavone success stories. "I use ipriflavone as either an adjunct to medical treatments such as Fosamax or estrogen, or as a stand-alone treatment. Ipriflavone works specifically on bone receptors and is very safe. I have used it on hundreds of patients." Susan Brown, Ph.D., author of Better Bones, Better Bodies (Keats 1999), is presently conducting various ipriflavone pilot studies at the Osteoporosis Education Project in East Syracuse, New York, of which she is the director. "Ipriflavone is being used as an adjunct therapy for those who require a stronger program to limit bone breakdown and enhance bone formation. Ipriflavone holds more promise as a safe and effective bone-building agent than the drugs presently being used."

[davidwparker]

3. Yeah, I knew there was more, but a lot of people forget vitamin D.

I totally believe in homeopathic medicine and take supplements from Biotics Research. Got the bones covered. The glucosamine sulfate, etc.