Question 1 : We have around 2 cups of yoghurt daily, plus some butter and cheese. Do we need calcium supplements ?
Or is it enough to just have magnesium and K2 ?

Question 2 : Also, at the Vitamin D council website, there's an ad for Vitamin D3 plus, with D3 and all necessary cofactors. I know its not a softgel but its so much easier to just take one tablet rather than take one D3 softgel, one magnesium, one K2 tablet etc.
Has anyone tried the D3 plus and is it effective ?
Seems a bit expensive but thats probably because it contains everything.

I think a lot of the reason people are having bone issues are the grains they eat. Grains have a lot of phytates, lectins, that keep you from being able to absorb and utilize calcium properly. Plus D3 deficiency is rampant.

Humans didn't evolve consuming dairy products OR grains and they had strong bones until they started eating grains, then all kinds of bone deformities started showing up.

What Nancy said.

As for the "not softgel" problem, IMO if you eat plenty of fat at the same time as you take your D3 the softgel isn't very important. The reason people recommend the softgel is to ensure absorption because the D3 is already in fat in the pill.

Ok.
So, has anybody has the Vitamin D3 plus supplements and found them useful ?

I can't help you with that. Personally I take D3 and K2 separately, a lot cheaper that way. I do however generally like the advice they give out at the Vit. D Council site.

In general I think taking calcium supplements carries more risks than benefits. The problem with calcium isn't getting enough, it's making sure it ends up in the right place. That's what K2 is for. Calcium in your kidneys or your arteries is bad news!

It seems like magnesium is the mineral that people need to supplement with the most. I don't know why exactly, but it seems to work. Mostly I don't worry about it, I just eat a lot of bone broth and sometimes some actual bones.

Hmmm. I am wondering whether to just use magnesium from next time. We eat a lot of yoghurt, cheese etc and some milk, butter and cream. So must be getting enough calcium from diet.

Its so tiresome to take so many pills - one for magnesium, one K2, one D3, separate fish oil etc. The Vitamin D3 plus seems like an ideal solution to at least combine 3 of those.

Problem with minerals is they're usually really enormous pills. I have 1000 mg magnesium but you only absorb a fraction of it (10% or so). If you combine it with other stuff then either you're not getting much or else you're going to have to swallow a pill the size of a small pacific island.

We just got the Country Life Total mins. As large as the others.

Want to give my son (he's 3 years old) a multimineral too, but the liquid one I ordered broke in transit

Bluebonnet Nutrition,Albion Patent Chelated Magnesium These are the magnesium albion patent form that Krispin suggests are most reliable in her Magensium Update

I don't use a calcium supplement. I think it's relatively easy to get all the calcium you need from dietary sources and these dietary sources are best utilized by the body.
If I couldn't eat dairy products then maybe I would Consider which form of calcium is best
and would probably choose a Calcium Citrate +Calcium Malate blend

I don't think the Vitamin D3plus are good value for money. Most people require at least 5000iu/daily maybe even more than that so using D3plus is going to be expensive.
It think you can use a separate Vit D, Magnesium and occassionally a Vitamin K blend if you haven't kept up with making your own bone marrow stock.
the zinc and boron can also easily be sourced separately.

here's what's in the D3+

Quote:

Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) .... 5,000 IU Vitamin K2 (Menaquinone-7) .... 100 mcg Zinc (Methionine Sulfate) .... 5 mg Proprietary Complex containing: 100mg Boron (citrate), Genistein (soy). Inactive Ingredients: Gelatin. Directions Two Capsules or more daily.

I've provided IHERB examples as their shipping to UK is cheapest. USA readers may find amazon/swansons/vitacost are cheaper but I haven't checked. Code ~~~~~~ saves $5 at IHERB. UK readers keep order value below £18 or pay TAX + £8 post office handling fee.

Thanks, Hutchinson.

So D3plus is out then.
I just got the Total Mins, at least I get magnesium, zinc and boron in one - thank goodness for small favors

We do have Vitamin K2 100mcg 3-4 times a week (the Now Foods one).

Did I mention liver yet? It's got all that good stuff (well, not a whole lot of D3, but then no food source does).

Unfortunately I'm taking pills too now. I chew my D3 pills - the MCT oil tastes sweet and buttery. But the HCl pills - talk about hard to swallow! They taste great, but I can't chew them because they dissolve my teeth. I'm on a higher dose than anyone I've ever heard of. Last night I took 20 at a time, in mouthfuls of 4 or 5 of those monsters each. I really hope my stomach starts producing its own acid soon....

But I don't consume any dairy and my calcium levels are just fine. If you don't eat carbs, and you avoid grains and limit nuts and high-oxalate vegetables, I don't think it's an issue.

[QUOTE=Hutchinson]Bluebonnet Nutrition,Albion Patent Chelated Magnesium These are the magnesium albion patent form that Krispin suggests are most reliable in her Magensium Update

Dear Hutchinson,


I appreciate you referencing the Krispin article re the magnesium albion form of supplemental magnesium, and realize that I have been taking an inferior product up until now. My question is: Do you personally use the Bluebonnet brand? The Krispin article also mentions brands by Carlson and by Solgar, but both of these appear to be the hard tablets while the Bluebonnet looks to be capsules filled with powder. I may be wrong about that bit, but it seems to me that the powder might be more easily absorbed. Anyway, just want to know which brand you take, and thanks for being such a great source of knowledge for all of us.

Sincerely, Kathy

Hi Kathy,

I am not Hutchinson, but I am also pretty well-read on magnesium.

A couple of other factors to consider when wanting to improve your magnesium levels:

1) Vitamin B6 improves uptake.
2) Low stomach acid inhibits uptake (not just of magnesium, all other nutrients)
3) D3 increases uptake of magnesium in the GI tract.
4) Any diuretic, whether a BP drug, or caffeine or alcohol will make you pee out your magnesium. Coffee, in particular, will also keep your adrenaline levels raised, which depletes magnesium.

I take a B-50 complex in capsule form from NOW Foods (iherb.com), plus a digestive enzyme capsule before meals (also from NOW foods, got them off iherb.com, too). Since trying to improve my magnesium levels, I am sure that they have gone up as the typical symptoms I had (cramping easily at night in the calf muscles, for example) have now gone completely, so I can testify that the various methods I have used have helped. I have also reduced my caffeine intake by 60%, which I am sure has also helped.

Some experts recommend taking your Mg supps between meals to ensure that you don't alkalize your stomach acid with the Mg and thus disrupt digestion. Others suggest you take your Mg with meals to minimize the danger of diarrhoea.

Personally, I think it is better to take small doses between meals, e.g. 75-150mg per dosage.

It is also useful to get as many magnesium-rich foods as possible in your diet, although it needs to be remembered that whole grains contain phytic acids which binds with magnesium if the grains are not soaked beforehand. Equally, nuts and seeds, although high in magnesium, have a similar property.

A good way to increase your magnesium intake is to get it in your water. I drink the "Apollinaris" brand of mineral water now which has a more or less 1:1 ratio of calcium to magnesium. According to Mildred Seelig, the magnesium in water is well absorbed.

Hope this helps you, too.

amanda

YES
Carlson & Solgar are both TABLETS but the Bluebonnet are dry powder filled capsules, not too large.
Do also compare serving size for 200mg.
With the Solgar it's 2 tablets for 200mg for Calsons/Bluebonnet it's just 1.

another option for Albion Patent Magnesium Chelate is
Doctor's Best, High Absorption Magnesium 2 TABLETS for 200mg.

I think you may be right.
But it's still worth taking magnesium with food and if you need more than 200mg daily to take one with each meal rather than 2 with one meal. Split dosing means higher absorption for magnesium.

PS Just read Amanda's post about taking mag between meals rather than with food. I think she may be right.
Certainly magnesium rich water is a good idea.
Recipe for Magnesium/Bicarbonate Water
I've had a go at making this and it tastes great and is very easy to do.
I just use tap water which is great where I live.
I've a Sodastream that makes it fizzy.
Magnesium Hydroxide is available from COOP pharmacists in the UK. It's much cheaper than the brand leader Philips Milk of Magnesia and isn't mint flavoured.
You make a concentrate solution (you know it's worked because it goes from milky to clear and the sides of the plastic sodastream bottle get sucked in and crinkled.
then I put a third of the concentrate in a 4 liter water flagon and use this in the sodastream to make it fizzy and put in the fridge.