Nutrients
The Simplest Diet Hack
Is calcium the villain in weight loss? A researcher proved that extra calcium accelerates fat loss — sometimes more effectively than expensive pharmaceutical interventions.
Nutrients
Is calcium the villain in weight loss? A researcher proved that extra calcium accelerates fat loss — sometimes more effectively than expensive pharmaceutical interventions.
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Water filters are all well and good. Many people nowadays use them — we do too. But whether they're really necessary is another question.
Example: Hard water has a somewhat poor reputation in Switzerland too. Not only because it can damage household appliances, but also because some people believe it harms the body.
Yet «hard water» simply means mineral-rich water — more specifically, it refers to alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic table), primarily magnesium and calcium.
That the body can absorb these minerals from mineral water effectively was the subject of a German study just a few years ago. Conclusion: Of course, the body takes them up readily.¹
We know that magnesium is quite healthy. But what about calcium?
The most important survey on this is again the German National Food Consumption Study II. It showed that a full 50% of the surveyed population consume too little calcium — a finding consistently mirrored in comparable studies across the German-speaking region. Those with particularly poor intake lack around 500 mg per day — quite a lot!
Unfortunately, calcium also has its share of myths. One such myth is that calcium calcifies blood vessels. But as often happens: just because calcium is found in «calcified vessels» (arteriosclerosis) does not mean calcium damages them.
The opposite is true: Without calcium, one of the most important «vessel-protective enzymes», endothelial nitric oxide synthase, cannot function at all.
Moreover, it has been shown that higher calcium intake is associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk.² In animal studies, extra calcium even inhibits vessel calcification — while calcium deficiency makes vessels unhealthy.³
One also repeatedly reads that calcium activates cells, and that too much calcium over-excites, stresses and harms them. In fact, calcium serves as an important signaling molecule in cells, known as intracellular calcium or [Ca²⁺]ᵢ.
But here too we see another logical fallacy: More dietary calcium does not necessarily increase calcium influx into cells — extra calcium actually decreases it. At least in fat cells.⁴
Scientists capitalized on this knowledge decades ago in diet research. A researcher named Michael B. Zemel (then University of Tennessee) produced outstanding work.
He was able to prove that high calcium levels in fat cells promote fat storage, while reduced calcium levels consequently inhibit fat storage. As mentioned: Through extra calcium (!), the calcium content in fat cells could be reduced.⁴
In 2000, he published his first data on this:⁴
Of course, that wasn't enough for him. He wanted a human study. A clinical trial with 32 overweight subjects was published in 2004 under his leadership, for example.⁵
One group received typical calcium amounts (400–500 mg). Two other groups received either high calcium through supplementation (800 mg) or through dairy consumption (over 1,000 mg).
Although all subjects received a 500 kcal daily deficit over 24 weeks, fat loss with calcium supplementation was 38% greater and with dairy-rich nutrition 64% greater. Fat loss in the trunk region doubled or tripled with the calcium-rich diets.
The results were confirmed in further clinical studies (2005⁶ and 2013⁷). Apparently inspired by his findings, Zemel even wrote a popular science book about his discoveries («The Calcium Key»).
Zemel called these observations the «anti-obesity effect». This was discussed in detail again in a recent review.⁸ Maybe you don't need expensive Ozempic after all — just more calcium.
By the way: Our Calcium Plus is also available in our shop.
