When is additional calcium needed?

There are situations in which one can also take calcium prophylactically. Vegans, people with vitamin D deficiency, those who in addition to these factors have a known family history of osteoporosis problems, as well as pregnant women can be almost certain that their calcium intake is insufficient - although confirmation by a doctor would still be the optimal course of action.

According to the DGE, the daily requirement is about 1000 mg, less for children under 10 years, the smaller and younger the child, the less.

According to the National Consumption Study II, the average calcium intake is 807 mg per day for men and 738 mg per day for women. A lack of calcium is therefore unfortunately already the norm. Calcium is deposited in the bones and is the main mass of the bone. If someone takes in 200 mg too little daily, it is easy to calculate how many grams of calcium will be missing for the body and the skeletal system after 10, 100 or 1000 days.

As with all substances, too much calcium is harmful. There are various recommendations. The DGE advises taking 1000 mg daily, which refers to total calcium, i.e. food plus any dietary supplements.
The Upper Limit, that is the amount that can be taken daily in the long term without suffering health damage, is 2500 mg.
When taken solely as dietary supplements one should never take more than 500 mg at once, because the body cannot absorb more than that in the intestine at one time.
Of course, the amount very much depends on whether a deficiency has been confirmed or a disease such as osteoporosis has already been diagnosed, or whether one simply wants to take it prophylactically.

In recent years, doctors' recommendations for osteoporosis have tended to move in the direction of not taking very large amounts of calcium, but paying more attention to a higher vitamin D intake.
Vitamin D is what enables the utilisation of calcium and its incorporation into the bone in the first place.

Calcium also plays an important role for functions in the blood. That is why a larger amount of calcium is always present in the bloodstream. If you take a lot of calcium, there is an increasing risk that this calcium will also be deposited as "calcification" in the arterial wall. You can prevent this if you take vitamin K in addition to the necessary vitamin D. That is the reason why we also offer many combination products with vitamin D and vitamin K.

You cannot, of course, absorb pure calcium. It is taken in the form of chemical compounds from which the body then extracts the elemental calcium.
There are very good, mediocre and poor compounds. Very good, as with all minerals, are the chelates, i.e. calcium chelate.
Calcium citrate is also good. This is generally very well absorbed, but especially people with stomach problems who have to take acid-suppressing medication absorb it much better. Because the body needs acid for absorption — without stomach acid there is also no absorption of calcium. In calcium citrate the acid required for absorption is supplied by the citrate itself.
Calcium carbonate is the cheapest form, unfortunately not only in terms of price but also in terms of quality. You could actually chew on a piece of chalk and it would make about as much sense.

To avoid misunderstandings: we sell exclusively dietary supplements, not medicinal products.
If your doctor diagnoses osteoporosis, you must therefore obtain the calcium on prescription from the pharmacy.
There you will find either effervescent tablets with calcium carbonate and sweeteners or tablets, which often simply contain plain calcium carbonate, often together with titanium dioxide and further additives.
The essential difference between this "prescription calcium" and our calcium is that the pharmaceutical manufacturers have had theirs approved as "medicines", whereas our manufacturers only as "dietary supplements".

These medicines work against osteoporosis. Our dietary supplements, which contain almost exclusively chelates or citrates, of course do not treat it.
The legislator has stipulated it this way and therefore we of course confirm that.