Calcium is a misunderstood mineral. While it’s often touted for its importance for bone health, it does SO many other things in the body. We need enough calcium in order to have optimal heart health, a healthy nervous system, proper muscle growth and contraction, cell division, blood clotting, maintaining pH balance, supporting thyroid health, and releasing insulin to balance blood sugar. It does a lot more than support our bones.

Understanding Calcium Regulation

A lot of the confusion around calcium can easily be cleared up when you understand how our bodies regulate it. Our bodies maintain optimal levels of calcium in the blood through tight regulation of parathyroid hormone, calcitriol (active form of vitamin D-1,25 OH), and calcitonin (a peptide hormone released by the thyroid).

What happens when calcium levels are low:

Three main things happen when there are low levels of calcium in the blood. Parathyroid hormone is released release, which then leads the kidneys to convert vitamin D into its active form (calcitriol or 1,25 OH). This increases calcium absorption in the intestines and decreases how much calcium we excrete in our urine. High PTH also promotes bone breakdown, which releases calcium from bones. This raises blood calcium levels in order to keep them within a tight range.

What happens if calcium levels are normal or high:

Once calcium normalizes or if it is high parathyroid hormone secretion stops, our thyroid gland releases a peptide hormone called calcitonin. Calcitonin inhibits parathyroid hormone release and reduces bone breakdown and calcium absorption in the intestines and increases calcium in the urine.

We can see this illustrated in this image from Oregon State:

This is just one example of how our bodies compensate when blood levels of minerals are off. We will sacrifice calcium in the bones to raise blood levels. This often looks like high calcium on an HTMA.

High Calcium On an HTMA

A common question I get is why calcium is often high on hair mineral testing and what to do about it. High calcium on a hair test is incredibly common since about 80% of the population are slow metabolic types. When calcium is in excess or leaves the bones and teeth, it slows down transport of nutrients and hormones into our cells. This slows down energy production and our overall metabolism (how quickly we take food and turn it into energy). You can see calcium (Ca) all the way to the left below is very high (167). This shows that calcium is leaving the bones and teeth and slowing down the body’s metabolic function, which leads to unwanted symptoms.

What causes high calcium? From the above explanation of calcium regulation, you know one critical cause is not having enough calcium in the blood. This often is a result of not having adequate calcium in the diet or low magnesium levels. Here are some other possible root causes of high calcium on an HTMA:

• Magnesium deficiency (this causes parathyroid hormone to be released and leads to calcium leaving the bones and teeth)
• Excess vitamin D supplementation (too much vitamin D can cause excess calcium; this is nuanced though since having low vitamin D levels can also cause calcification)
• Certain medications like antacids (further lowers stomach acid) and also contains calcium
• Calcium supplementation (messages from mainstream media that tell us to supplement calcium to prevent osteoporosis, but this is only part of the picture–we have to consider magnesium, boron, iron, and hormone levels)
• Excess calcium intake from supplements (greater than 1500mg/day) can decrease parathyroid hormone PTH which increases the risk of low bone turnover. I think it’s important to note that research has shown that higher intakes of calcium from food does not increase calcification.
• Stress (reduces magnesium and raises soft tissue calcium levels)
• Excess unbound copper (check out my copper episode here)
• Excess estrogen reduces calcium excretion (this is very common with excess copper)
• Heavy metals like lead or cadmium can displace calcium and eventually lead to a deficiency

It’s usually not just one of these that is causing high calcium. Many of us have a few root causes, but it’s important to recognize all of them so you know what changes to make in order to rebalance calcium. What you change first is up to you, but I like to have people focus on food. If calcium sources are lacking, then adding in more calcium rich foods to avoid further depletion is ideal. This isn’t just dairy! Things like cooked collard greens, white beans, and sardines are all great sources of calcium. From there, looking at your different contributors to stress like eating enough, blood sugar balance, sleep, time outside, how you live (are you always on the go/rushing), etc. is the next big thing to focus on. Then you can consider supplements (this could be starting OR stopping) and ways to optimize minerals like copper. I dig deep into copper in the episode linked above if that is a main concern for you!

If you are enjoying nerding out about calcium, make sure you listen to my calcium deep dive podcast episode on the week’s Are You Menstrual? Podcast.

reminder: i’m currently taking on 1:1 clients. if you’d like to explore what it would be like to work together and if we are a good fit, fill out this form to get more details!