STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

i take a calcium supplement by pure encapsulations that's calcium citrate.  (the dr told me that calcium citrate is the most absorbable form of calcium -- right now i can't remember why.) 

 i have also taken a whole food calcium made by rainbow light that came highly recommended.  you can get that brand at health food stores.  i would just say, that with any supplement, there are publications that have tested each brand to see how much of the supplement your body actually absorbs, and with some more commercial vitamins (centrum comes to mind), you're only get a small percentage of what's actually in the vitamin (some were ridiculously low, like 40%)

Aurora wrote:

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be careful with calcium because you can take too much of it and it will have adverse affects on your health - heart disease, stroke, etc.  One of the things my grandmother's doctor said after she died was that her calcium levels were toxic and she was taking that coral calcium daily.  Here are a few articles on calcium: http://www.webmd.com/content/article/67/79906.htm http://1stholistic.com/Nutrition/hol_nutr-toxic-dosages.htm I just take a daily multivitamin and that's good enough for me and keeps me healthy. 

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there are also some new reports that question the link between calcium and bone loss. i.e. that it doesn't really help with bone loss in older women. it's a really inconclusive study, which is totally surprising because of the number of the women in the study and because of the type of study. in general, i think that taking a mulitvitamin along with a heathly balanced diet is best. calcium comes from a ton of sources. orange juice that has been calcium fortified is an excellent source, as well as broccoli, most beans, and figs. also, any other dairy product is good; cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt. supplements that are single vitamin/nutrient sorta scare me (with no research to back this up, mind you, just my opinion), its really easy to get too much of a good thing with supplements and too much is sometimes just as bad as too little. so, for myself, i just stick with a multivitamin and then eat a balanced diet with lots of veggies in it.

with calcium supplements its also important that you are getting enough vitamin d in your diet as well which aids in absorption of the calcium. without enough vitamin d, the supplement could be worthless. also, avoid natural calcium supplements from natural sources such as oyster shells because these often have been contaminated by lead or other chemicals.

on a side note....dairy products are often the least productive source of calcium because of absorption levels and high fat contents. for all you conspiracy theorists out there...one of the largest lobbies in the united states is the dairy lobby. it's right up there with oil and tobacoo. yep, oil, tobacco, and dairy. they control your politicians.