Coral Calcium in our Biological Systems

Coral Calcium in our Biological Systems


SOURCE: 2000-Centuries Science 1999, By Ingmar Ljunqvist

Corals become Industry Products
When modern investigations of Kobayashi encouraged Japanese companies to manufacture water filters for the Japanese market, they used (among other things) corals from Okinawa. Hardly a few years later, another simple product has come about; fine coral sand, simply packed in small tea bags, creating an easier and more palpable way for the consumers to be sure that what they drink contains coral calcium.

Sango Coral
The coral used in this "tea bag" supplement is called Sango coral, and it belongs to the Scleractina family. It's estimated that it has existed for more than 600 million years. Thankfully, modern law protects coral, and it can't be broken from the reefs. The Corals used for supplementation, by and large, are collected from soil sediments. The continuous wearing of the sea on coral reefs removes small particles, which fall to the ocean floor.

Coral: analogous to bones
Since coral is a marine living organism, it also reflects the mineral compound of the sea, which has a very high concentration of calcium and other minerals. Coral, therefore, has a living origin, as do we. The mineral balance of this coral has been shown to be similar in composition to that of the human skeleton.

In humans, calcium is the fifth most common element, after hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen. It forms 1% of our body weight, which means that we consist of almost 1 kg of calcium.

Calcium in Enzymes
Calcium has a number of important functions in the biological system. Research about the importance of calcium is increasing, but in general, four important functional connections seem clear.

Calcium and the bones
The storage of calcium is connected to orthophosphates, which build up the bones and make it hard and at the same time flexible and tough. When calcium is lacking in the blood, the bones can serve as a reservoir and balance the blood's calcium rate. If this continues without a replenishing of calcium from an outside source, however, it can lead to serious conditions such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and other bone diseases. Bones can lose their internal resilience, becoming, quite literally, a shell. A shell that can fracture and crack at a minimal amount of external pressure.

During pregnancy, when large amounts of calcium can be taken from the teeth and bones of the mother in order to build up the skeleton of the fetus, it becomes even more of a necessity to provide an inflow of calcium to the body. When blood calcium stores get too low, a parathyroid gland hormone (PTH) releases calcium from the bones to regulate levels.

Calcium and Vitamin D
Side by side with PTH, vitamin D also works as an important factor for a correct uptake and distribution of calcium. A main source for vitamin D is ordinary sunlight.

Calcium and pH
Possibly the most important factor for maintaining health is the pH value in the different bodily fluids. The stomach should, for example, be very acidic for an effective decomposition of the food. A healthy venous blood should have a pH-value of 7 - likewise with the liquid in the spinal cord. Inside the cell, the pH value should be lower, but it's not permitted to fluctuate because of the activity of the cell.

The pH value in the blood of a healthy individual should be between 6 and 8. The calcium ion, with both its strong basic character and its buffering effect, is directly connected to an optimum pH value in the blood.

Calcium and cell membranes
A fourth key function of calcium is its role in the cell membrane. The importance of the cell membrane has for a long time been underestimated, at least when it comes to applied medicine.

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