Calcium helps you lose weight

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Do you get enough calcium? If you don’t, and you’re a woman who is overweight, increasing your calcium intake could not only strengthen your bones, it could help you take off pounds.

A new Canadian study has found that obese women who increased their calcium intake from 600 milligrams daily to 1,200 milligram daily lost sixfold more weight than the woman who did not increase their intake.

The calcium weight loss study
A total of 63 obese or overweight women participated in the 15-week double-blind, placebo-controlled study. All the women were placed on a weight-reducing diet, but half also took one supplement tablet consisting of 600 mg of calcium plus vitamin D twice daily. The other half took placebo tablets.

At the end of the 15-week study, the researchers found that the women who had consumed 600 mg or less of elemental calcium daily did not show a statistically significant loss of fat, while those who had taken the supplements totaling 1,200 mg of calcium daily showed a significant decrease in body weight, fat mass, and spontaneous dietary lipid (fat) intake. Overall, the women who followed the weight-loss diet alone lost 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of weight while those who took the calcium supplement lost nearly 6 kg (13.2 pounds).

Dr. Angelo Tremblay, one of the study team members, said the hypothesis is that the brain can tell when the body lacks sufficient calcium, so it tries to make up for the deficit by promoting food intake, which works against weight loss. Getting the recommended amount of calcium, however, seems to reduce the desire to eat more.

Getting enough calcium
When shopping for calcium supplements, the key is the amount of elemental calcium that the supplement contains. “Elemental calcium” is the amount of calcium that your body is able to absorb. The recommended daily requirement for calcium for most adults is 1,000 mg up to age 50, and 1,200 mg thereafter.

Therefore, check the label to see how much elemental calcium is in each tablet or serving. Some products contain so little elemental calcium you have to take six or more tablets to meet your daily requirement. According to the Office of Dietary Supplements, calcium carbonate and tricalcium phosphate are the two types of calcium supplements that have the greatest percentage of supplement as elemental calcium.
 

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