What do Muscle Spasms and Canker sores have in Common?
Both are due to poor tissue Calcium. Calcium is super essential but it's tricky to get into your tissues. I'm going to do a deep dive on Calcium over the next couple of blogs so we'll call this Part I.
First off, What does Calcium do for you and why is it important in your diet?
Of course we know about bones and teeth so let's move on to the more subtle uses of Calcium in your body:
1. Prevents cold sores from breaking out, and through the same mechanism, dries up lesions from shingles and stops genital herpes outbreaks
2. Contracting muscles. Calcium helps create the right amount of contraction in your muscles, not enough and you can have spasms, especially at night.
3. Blood Clotting. Your body needs calcium to activate the platelets to help blood to clot when you damage tissues that need repair.
4. Helps regulate blood pressure especially during pregnancy, think "prevent pre-eclampsia"
5. Calcium may help reduce the risks of certain cancers, especially colo-rectal, perhaps others, although the exact mechanism is not completely understood.
6. Neurotransmitters. Calcium is responsible for triggering the release of these chemicals that help your nerves communicate with each other
7. May help lower cholesterol
8. Prevents kidney stones. Yes, contrary to popular belief, DIETARY calcium (that is calcium obtained from your diet and not from supplements) can actually prevent kidney stones while certain calcium supplements may cause them.
On the next post, we'll discuss Sources of Calcium in Food and the BEST and Worst supplements for obtaining Calcium!