When to take calcium – a few pointers

Wondering when to take calcium? If you’re on other medication, or other supplements, you may feel like drawing up a daily timetable for them all. Every pill seems to have different rules – take one on an empty stomach, take two before bedtime, take one pill during a meal. The rules can be extensive and consuming.

With calcium – the normal rule is to take one with a meal, three times a day, (even if you take calcium citrate which doesn’t need to be taken with food, it can often act as a good reminder to take a calcium pill when you sit down to eat).

But why do we need to take calcium three times a day. Why can’t we neck the full amount first thing in the morning?

A few things:

1. The body can only tolerate a certain amount of calcium at any one time. So you cannot “bulk load” your body with calcium and carry on with the rest of your day. Taking your full daily dose of calcium in one sitting at the very least mean that your body will reject most of it and send it straight through as waste. At worst, it could cause problems with your body. Because of this, you need to take your calcium in instalments.
2. to ht down to eat).ll seems to hthing in the morning?
3. Why can’der to take a calcium pill when you sit down to eat).ll seems to ht down to eat).ll seems to hthing in the morning?
4. Why can’der to take a calcium pill when you sit down to eat).ll seems to hto hThe main calcium supplement is calcium carbonate. This is the cheapest and most common calcium pill around. However, it is difficult to digest and does require a lot of stomach acid. As stomach acid increases during mealtimes, it is recommended you take your pills with a meal.

A few things to be aware of when you are taking calcium supplements. If you’re taking them with a multivitamin, make sure there is no iron in the multivitamin. Iron can inhibit the absorption of calcium, thus rendering the pill useless.

Calcium works best with vitamin C and vitamin D, so make sure you have a meal rich with these, or take these vitamin supplements together with the calcium supplement.