Re: Calcium supplementing with Tums.....not good

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Posted by PH Meliss on November 07, 2002 at 13:02:00:

In Reply to: Calcium supplementing with Tums.....not good posted by chirodan on November 07, 2002 at 04:23:45:

:Unfortunately, calcium and Vit. D (which is required for calcium absorption) require an acidic environment in the GI tract to properly be absorbed into the body.

Actually, everything we eat requires both stomach acid and the activities of a host of different beneficial organisms to break everything down so that the body can actually digest it. So, it's not that Tums neutralizes vitamin D or impedes D uptake, it is that all stomachs and intestines that are too alkaline will impair or otherwise be disadvantageous to all vitamin, mineral, trace element, and nutrient uptake.

That being said, Tums contains calcium carbonate, a form calcium that is best taken with food - that's why I recommend calcium carbonate, rather than the other forms of calcium. When I'm talking to humans about humans, I make other recommendations, based on when they are taking calcium and for what purpose they are taking it.

There is a general problem with all types of supplements that come in tablet and gelcap form: the amount of acid in our stomach decreases naturally with age, and can be problematically low at younger ages due to a variety of health problems. Many tablets and gelcaps do not dissolve in the length of time the tablet/gelcap sits in in the stomach. If the one you humans are taking doesn't, then you are indeed supplying your city's sewer system with some very expensive waste products.;) There is a test one can do to see how fast your tablet and gelcaps dissolve: put in a glass of water to which you have added 1 teaspoon of vinegar. If the tablet or gel cap is still substantially whole after 30 minutes, it's not being broken down in your gut.

(Note: many supplements are supplied in pull-apart gelatin capsules which are much less resistant to stomach acid. Most over-the-counter [OTC] medicines used to be packaged in pull-apart type capsules...until a couple of individuals tampered with products, mixing poisons in with the contents of some of the capsules. In response, product manufacturers went to more secure packaging and product units more difficult to tamper with.)

I'm not crazy about Tums as a calcium supplement for humans or animals because Tums has a lot of ingredients that we just don't need - starch, sweetening, artificial colors, etc. But as for Tums interfering with vitamin/mineral and nutrient uptake in our iguanas, it's a non-issue, I believe, largely because we are not only not giving our igs a whole or part of an intact tablet, we're giving them a pinch or two of the powdered tablet. In a sense, we've pre-digested that portion of the tablet for them. ;)

--
PH Meliss, who has no stomach acid, no beneficial flora/fauna, and no or insufficient other things in her stomach and gut which means she has to be aware of all this stuff and take an unbelieveabale amount of stuff after every meal and snack just to have a prayer of digesting some of what she ingests...

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