Food before supplements; but sometimes there is little choice
At PhycoHealth, we are very committed to food being the best vehicle for health. But it is a reality that most modern supermarket shelves have "watered down" our food to deliver more energy than nutritional density. Because of this, there are some nutrients that are worth supplementing.
A local and global deficiency uncovered
While undertaking our clinical studies on gut health with SeaFibre, we also recorded what our participants would normally eat in a day. We found that the dietary intake of Calcium was especially low at between low as 27 - 50% of recommended daily intake across participants. Although Calcium only makes up 1-2% of the atoms in our bodies – they are important ones that are responsible for most of our bone mass, but also all cells and importantly skin.
It even appears that the whole world is in a Calcium deficient state, considering that the recommended daily dietary intake is at least 1000mg for adults. This map comes from the International Osteoporosis Foundation, and shows us just how deficient different countries are in Calcium intake.
Your body needs calcium to build and maintain strong bones. Your heart, muscles and nerves also need calcium to function properly, and so does your skin.
Calcium and bones
Most of us know that calcium in the diet is important; of course, because our bones are made up of at least 1 kg of calcium. Calcium deficiency, together with Vitamin D deficiency, can lead to low bone density, and in ageing people, this is the reason for a lot of hip replacements.
Calcium and pregnancy
Calcium is vital in pregnancy, which makes a lot of sense. Your body is building a new body, with bones and all. The World Health Organisation recommends that 1,500–2,000 mg/day calcium is required for pregnant women with low dietary calcium intakes to reduce the risk of preeclampsia.
Calcium and skin diseases: psoriasis
Vitamin D and Calcium are important regulators in the development of the epidermis of the skin; making sure that there is not too much and just enough proliferation of skin cells. This is why adequate (but not too much) sun is known to be good for psoriasis sufferers, but in an environment where either one of calcium or vitamin D are deficient, then this regulation can be disrupted causing overgrowth of skin cells in certain circumstances.
After undertaking our clinical study on the benefit of SeaFibre to psoriasis, and realising that many of our study participants were lacking in Calcium, we set our minds to looking for the best marine source of calcium. Having worked closely with our local oyster farmers for over a decade of research in sustainable production practices, we had access to a resource that was rich in marine calcium carbonate. So we set our sights on using our processing plant technology, to calcium carbonate processing from Sydney Rock Oyster shells, and came up with our latest product: SeaFibre-CAL.
Formulating SeaFibre-CAL with other important nutrition
SeaFibre-CAL will not only deliver that extra amount of calcium carbonate, extracted from Sydney Rock Oyster shells, but also Magnesium and Boron which are naturally present in our clinically tested SeaFibre.
These three minerals Calcium, Magnesium and Boron, work in close synergy with Vitamin D, to regulate many things in the body including bone mineralisation, skin function and hormones, especially testosterone and oestrogen.
Who isn't getting enough?
Your doctor will be able to help you diagnose if your Calcium intake is insufficient, but just being conscious of this global deficiency throughout life might help you to make some better food choices. There are some people in risk groups however, including post menopausal women, people with high salt intake, and all of us that do not eat enough Calcium in our diets throughout life.
Some studies suggest that calcium, along with vitamin D, may have benefits beyond bone health: perhaps protecting against cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure. But evidence about such health benefits is not definitive. There are also some associations between bowel cancer and low calcium intakes.
Getting the balance right
Diversity of diet is key – there is rarely just one thing that will solve a problem. A a diet that is diverse and rich in minerals is easier to achieve with some seaweed in your food each day. Seaweed helps because it is both dense and diverse in nutrition compare to land plants, and includes other important trace elements. Our seaweed in particular has safe and healthy proportions of iron, iodine, zinc, manganese and selenium.
If you are not getting enough mineral diversity, or you don’t like the taste of seaweed, then supplementation is one way to top-up when you feel like your intake is low. Our SeaFibre-CAL has no aroma or aftertaste.
Stay in tune with your body and keep all bases covered with a bit of seaweed everyday. This is easy with anything from the PhycoHealth range of foods, and on the days you lack nutrient dense and varied foods, you can supplement with our PhycoDigest products.
