Benefits and side effects of Calcium carbonate supplements

Calcium carbonate is a nutritional supplement used to supplement calcium. Calcium is an essential nutrient for normal growth and development. Adequate dietary calcium aids in the formation of bones and helps prevent bone diseases during childhood and adolescence. When taken as amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC), the mineral calcium can provide calcium supplementation support, improve bone, muscle and heart strength, enhance performance and reduce bone-related pain. It is also used as an antacid to relieve heartburn, acid indigestion and stomach discomfort.

Treating osteoporosis

Calcium supplements are a clinically approved treatment for osteoporosis, but they usually require high doses, are not targeted and are not effective. Studies have found that tetracycline (Tc)-modified and simvastatin (Sim)-loaded phospholipid-amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) hybrid nanoparticles (Tc/ACC/Sim) can enhance their accumulation in osteoporotic sites. Most importantly, the combination of calcium supplementation and Sim provides a synergistic osteoblast-boosting osteoporosis treatment that is more effective than non-targeted systems or monotherapy.

Helps embryonic development

Addition of stable amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) to the culture medium showed an effect of rapidly adjusting the optimal pH of the culture medium. ACC can inhibit cathepsin B activity during in vitro culture of fibroblasts. Its beneficial effect on cleavage mouse embryos may be due to slower changes in the pH of the culture medium due to improved buffering, which may improve the quality and implantation potential of embryos after in vitro culture.

Lowers blood pressure

Recent studies have shown that calcium supplementation may reduce arterial blood pressure in hypertensive patients. We studied 32 patients with mildly elevated arterial blood pressure (diastolic blood pressure 88-95 mmHg) and inadequate dietary calcium intake (less than 750 mm/day) and randomized them to placebo or 1500 mg/day elemental calcium for 4 weeks. Urinary calcium concentrations at baseline and after treatment and supine blood pressure 3 times every 2 weeks were recorded. Supine systolic blood pressure increased in the calcium group within the first 2 weeks of treatment (increase in systolic blood pressure +5.9 mmHg; P less than 0.025), whereas there was no change in the placebo group. In the calcium group, 7 of 15 patients had a decrease or no change in supine blood pressure during treatment. This subgroup had lower urinary calcium concentrations and lower dietary sodium intake compared with those patients who had an increase in supine blood pressure in response to calcium administration.

Side effects

Most side effects to short-term, periodic use or low-dose supplementation with calcium carbonate are mild. Currently, Calcium carbonate supplementation is commonly associated with gastrointestinal (GI) adverse events. The main manifestations are stomach discomfort, vomiting, stomach pain, belching, constipation, dry mouth, increased urination, loss of appetite, and metallic taste.

However, if taken in large doses for a long time or in overdose, patients may experience moderate to severe side effects, such as coma, confusion, arrhythmia, muscle cramps, bone pain, abdominal pain, pancreatitis, acute renal failure, kidney stones, headache, milk-alkali syndrome and gallstones. Milk-alkali syndrome is caused by hypercalciuria and alkaliuria, which predisposes to kidney stones and causes sequelae such as pancreatitis and acute renal failure.

References:

[1] JIANWEI WANG. Calcium Supplement by Tetracycline guided amorphous Calcium Carbonate potentiates Osteoblast promotion for Synergetic Osteoporosis Therapy.[J]. Theranostics, 2020: 8591-8605. DOI:10.7150/thno.45142.

[2] AMIR ARAV. The effect of amorphous calcium carbonate as a culture media supplement on embryonic development of murine sibling embryos.[J]. Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, 2023, 40 10: 2409-2418. DOI:10.1007/s10815-023-02899-5.

[3] R L BLOOMFIELD. Effects of oral calcium carbonate on blood pressure in subjects with mildly elevated arterial pressure.[J]. Journal of hypertension. Supplement : official journal of the International Society of Hypertension, 1986, 4 5: S351-4.

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