about some of my calcium products...

Diana very kindly helped me word this to reflect the numbers accurately. Don and I have been working on this for awhile. We still use these products ourselves, and blood levels are perfect, and that's "my definition" of perfect. Don's completely out of osteoporosis and moving back almost to cross the line into good bones again. I've moved, but not as far.

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It has come to our attention, that we carry several calcium citrate products that have questionable label information.

The products themselves have helped many customers stabilize their calcium levels and in some cases improver their T-Scores when bone density is monitored by DEXA scan.

Nature's Science Calcium with D & Magnesium; Calcium 750; SciFit Osteo Enhanced and Global Health UpCal D report calcium amounts as 500 or 750mg Calcium Citrate. These amounts refer to calcium salts and not elemental calcium. Elemental calcium is approx 1/4 of the total weight of the calcium salts. Therefore the 500 mg and 750 doses only contain about 125 mg and 190 mg elemental calcium citrate, respectively. The manufactures say that the label may be misunderstood, but fall into proper regulations for product labeling. The OR IGINAL UpCal D with the larger scoop an grittier formula was 500mg elemental calcium.

We have been looking into higher dose calcium IN CAPSULE and/or powdered form. As these products have been recommended by many doctors and clinics we have elected to not remove the products from our shelves until we have an economical alternative.

The real concern is in the results achieved in using these products. They have provided many customers with an easy to use, high quality calcium citrate at a acceptable price. The proof of effectiveness is in your test results. However, we want our product labels to reflect more accurately the actual content.


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Hmmm, I love the Upcal D!!! Being able to have a powder formula that I can use throughout the day has been wonderful. I hope you are able to find a powder replacement if you need to discontinue carrying the Upcal D. Thanks for the info!

I, too, love Upcal D.  I put it in my warm protein drink.  It is great to use.  I do not care for capsules or tablets if I can avoid them. Patricia 3/11/2005

I have a bid, but it is flavored, so you'd mix it up, as is. Not add to things. Might be good IN ADDITION, but not everyone likes orange flavor!

Michelle... Isn't that just a little too much info that really isn't important?  I mean Calcium Citrate is what the majority of surgeons are requesting their patients to take because it works. How much elemental calcium is in Calcium Citrate shouldn't matter. It's too technical. That fact is that while calcium carbonate has more elemental calcium, calcium citrate is better absorbed by WLS people. The way calcium citrate is made and its amounts don't matter as long as it is working on the majority. When it stops working, then we all need to know why and what other kind to use. I don't know why surgeons don't have us on "calcium citrate malate" as it is even MORE absorbable (although not easily found in every grocery store vitamin aisle)   When I was doing research for Iron absorbability and learned that ferrous sulfate just doesn't work the majority of the time...I had a reason to explore iron in depth and find one that WOULD work and save me from Iron infusions. I needed to know the fundamentals of how iron worked for that reason.  The only thing people really need to know about calcium citrate is it works and it works better than carbonate even though it is more expensive and has less elemental calcium in it.  What we do need to know is that you can only absorb 400 mg of calcium at a time (500 tops)  So it must be taken 2 -4 times a day depending if you are working on a defciency or maintaining calcium levels...NO?  AND you can't take calcium citrate within two hours of iron.   I pasted a chart and info specifically about your post below the link Here's some info about calcium taken from : The National Institute of Health at the link below: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/calcium.asp Here is a copy and pasted excerpt from the last section about the  Supplemental sources of calcium   for anyone who is truly concerned about how much elemental calcium is in "calcium citrate" rather than the fact that even with less it works BETTER for GB people. The two main forms of calcium found in supplements are carbonate and citrate. Calcium carbonate is the most common because it is inexpensive and convenient. The absorption of calcium citrate is similar to calcium carbonate. For instance, a calcium carbonate supplement contains 40% calcium while a calcium citrate supplement only contains 21% calcium. However, you have to take more pills of calcium citrate to get the same amount of calcium as you would get from a calcium carbonate pill since citrate is a larger molecule than carbonate. One advantage of calcium citrate over calcium carbonate is better absorption in those individuals who have decreased stomach acid. Calcium citrate malate is a form of calcium used in the fortification of certain juices and is also well absorbed [116]. Other forms of calcium in supplements or fortified foods include calcium gluconate, lactate, and phosphate. The amount of calcium your body obtains from various supplements depends on the amount of elemental calcium in the tablet. The amount of elemental calcium is the amount of calcium that actually is in the supplement. Calcium absorption also depends on the total amount of calcium consumed at one time and whether the calcium is taken with food or on an empty stomach. Absorption from supplements is best in doses 500 mg or less because the percent of calcium absorbed decreases as the amount of calcium in the supplement increases [117,118]. Therefore, someone taking 1000 mg of calcium in a supplement should take 500 mg twice a day instead of 1000 mg calcium at one time. Some common complaints of calcium supplement use are gas, bloating and constipation. If you have such symptoms, you may want to spread the calcium dose out throughout the day, change supplement brands, take the supplement with meals and/or check with your pharmacist or health care provider. Figure 3 compares the amount of calcium (elemental calcium) found in some different forms of calcium supplements [119]. Figure 3: Comparison of Calcium Content of Various Supplements