Is calcium without vitamin D effective?

calcium-without-vitamin-D-from-abloomnova.net_-1600x1067 Is calcium without vitamin D effective?

Calcium without vitamin D? That’s like Laurel without Hardy, or Tango without Cash. Both calcium and vitamin D are partners in controlling fundamental actions within the body.

Calcium isn’t just effective for bones. Calcium is also vital for the nervous system and the muscular system. The bones need a narrow range of serum calcium in your blood, too much or too little creates big problems. If there is excess calcium in the body, our bones act as a storage facility to the mineral. And whenever the blood calcium levels run low, they just tap into the bone stores for more.

But how does our body make sure it has the right amount of calcium in the blood? With the help of vitamin D, calcium and the parathyroid hormone. They can secrete parathyroid hormone (PTH) which regulates serum calcium and phosphate, which in return regulate PTH.

And here’s the science bit, which is where our friends at the Vitamin D Council will take over:

“Your kidney produces vitamin D’s active form, which is called 1,25(OH)₂D. How much 1,25(OH)₂D your kidney decides to produce depends on how much PTH and calcium are in your body, but you also need good vitamin D intake to be able to produce adequate 1,25(OH)₂D. 1,25(OH)₂D helps you absorb calcium and also keeps your PTH levels in check. This is how it all happens: When calcium in your blood is low, your parathyroid starts secreting PTH. PTH starts pulling calcium from your bones and into your blood. PTH also starts telling your kidneys to start making more 1,25(OH)₂D. You have vitamin D stores in your body called 25(OH)D that are ready for the kidney to produce 1,25(OH)₂D when needed, if you get adequate vitamin D intake. When the kidney starts producing 1,25(OH)₂D, it helps the gut absorb more calcium than usual, to make sure you get enough calcium into your body. When 1,25(OH)₂D increases and helps your body get to the right calcium balance, it tells your parathyroid to stop making so much PTH, and stop pulling calcium from your bones. On the other hand, when calcium in the blood is high, your parathyroid won’t release much PTH at all. The amount of calcium in your blood tells your parathyroid not to release any PTH, and in turn, PTH doesn’t tell your kidney to produce more 1,25(OH)₂D. So you stop absorbing too much calcium and allows your body to lower its blood calcium. This interaction between calcium, parathyroid and vitamin D is happening constantly; 1,25(OH)₂D and PTH always adjusting to make sure you have the right calcium balance. When you get enough vitamin D from good sun exposure and supplementation habits and enough calcium from your diet, this allows you to maintain a healthy calcium level in your blood and keep good amounts of calcium in your bones. Healthy vitamin D and calcium habits also help keep your PTH levels in check.”

Got that? We hope so. Basically calcium without vitamin D is like a pencil with no lead – utterly pointless.

 

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