The calcium citrate weight loss connection

What is the calcium citrate weight loss connection? Many women spend most of their adult lives on a diet. The cabbage soup diet, the Atkins diet, the 5:2 diet… it’s a constant battle of shedding pounds and dodging the pudding menu.

But what if you could lose weight by eating cheese and drinking milk? The role of calcium in losing weight has been studied recently with surprising results.

A recent study has suggested that when the body is suffering from low levels of calcium, a gene is turned on to send a signal to cells to make more fat and inhibit fat breakdown. However, when calcium is turned up to the full amount – in the study’s case around 1600mg a day, it speeds up weight loss. That amounts to just three or four daily servings of low-fat dairy products in order to adjust your body’s fat-burning machinery.

Dr Nancy Tice, who runs a blog here, has been studying the calcium citrate weight loss link. In her blog, she writes “A study that focused on the connection between calcium and weight loss in women conducted at Purdue University found that, despite how much the women exercised, those who consumed higher levels of calcium lost more body fat than the women with calcium deficient diets. Another two-year study found young women, who had the highest intakes of calcium from dairy foods lost the most weight and adipose fat on weight control programs, regardless of exercise level.”

Whether calcium carbonate or calcium citrate is better for weight loss is another issue. According to Tice, “In healthy individuals, absorption of the two forms of calcium appears to be about the same, and both forms also appear to be as well absorbed as calcium from milk in healthy people.”

Of course, it should go without saying that a healthy diet plan needs to be followed alongside the calcium intake. Taking calcium supplements won’t magic away the love handles. You need to combine it with a diet high in vegetables and protein with a little bit of carbohydrates.

In the small number of individuals with achlorhydria (no stomach acid), calcium citrate appears to be better absorbed. However, this difference seems to be less relevant if the calcium carbonate is taken with food. Healthy people, who do not get enough calcium from their diet and wish to supplement their calcium intake should feel comfortable choosing either carbonate or citrate. It’s easy to remember to take a supplement with meals, and calcium carbonate is a good choice in this case — and probably more convenient (as calcium carbonate supplements require a lower number of tablets per dose and are generally lower in price).

However, keep in mind that calcium is no magic bullet. What the study says is that: higher-calcium diets favor burning rather than storing fat. Calcium changes the efficiency of weight loss, but you still need to follow a diet plan like the ones here at eDiets.