I inherited this thread in the Ask Tony Isaacs forum somehow when the forum began and thus the debate that follows the post I am responding to had already occured - but I want to take this opportunity to state:
The "Ask Tony Isaacs" forum is NOT a debate forum and neither is it a name-calling or attack forum. If you feel strongly about a given subject and are arguing your point - as opposed to contributing new and helpful information in follow up posts - then I suggest that you get in all of your points and information within a couple of posts. Otherwise, I will put a swift end to such debate and you will have no one but yourself to blame for not making a better or more complete case for your point of view. I will put an even swifter end to name calling, slurs and attacks against other forum members.
Now, as to my own views regarding the debate: Calcium is indeed one of the most vital minerals for optimum health - and without it, many other essentials are unable to perform their intended functions. I plan to do an extensive article about the essential roles that calcium plays in the body, but that will be a bit down the road, so I suggest the excellent book "The Calcium Factor" by researcher Robert Barefoot and Dr. Carl Reich for those who want to look further into calcium.
The same can be said about magnesium, selenium, zinc, iodine, Vitamins C, D, E, B's, and many more. It takes a very wide range of nutrients working together in concert for the body and all of it's many systems to function optimally. Deficiency in any one usually leads to the inability of the body to make satisfactory use of others, just as deficiency of one body system or organ leads to impairment of other systems. Amazing how nature works and how medical science continues to be blind to how essential synergy is in all life.
Speaking of nature, I would be less than candid if I did not say that I strongly believe that life functions best with the natural forms of just about everything and these essential nutrients are no exception - including calcium. No matter who may say otherwise and how much I and others may respect them, that is my own personal strong feeling. As I have oft stated in one way or another: If nature did not provide it, it is likely that nature did not intend for us to ingest it and there will be incompatibility in one or more ways. That is not saying that another form absolutely may not work or may not be relatively safe - just saying that I don't trust it.
No one is all knowing and mistake free and that certainly includes yours truly. Just today I found that two time Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling ( one of my early heroes, along with Buckminster Fuller), used to add baking soda to Vitamin C to make an effervescent beverage. As it turns out, baking soda rapidly destroys vitamin C which has not been absorbed by the body. Which also puts to rest the old wives tale of adding baking soda to boiling vegetables. If old wives and a two time Nobel prize winner can be wrong, just about anybody can be! IMHO.