Calcium Ascorbate is a natural form of Vitamin C, which is much more readily absorbed in the blood stream than the other forms of calcium. Importantly, calcium is coupled with Vitamin C to deliver the benefits of both calcium & Vitamin C.
Awareness of the necessity of calcium for long term bone health has grown substantially and calcium fortification has exploded across the food chain.
While Vitamin C is the most commonly known vitamin, its health promoting benefits go beyond its ready availability. It is effective against common colds and it is one of the best-known free radical scavengers.
Structure
Action of Calcium Ascorbate
When ingested, Calcium Ascorbate is hydrolyzed in the stomach to give calcium and ascorbate ion. The HCl in the stomach converts this ascorbate ion to ascorbic acid. Thus there is no net increase in the acid concentration in the stomach.
The free ascorbate ion may again chelate with the calcium & is readily assimilated. This temporary chelation of ascorbate ion with calcium protects it from oxidation to dehydro ascorbic acid and subsequent rapid oxidative degradation in the duodenum.
Calcium Ascorbate – Its advantages
The severely ill who need Vitamin C the most, are often suffering from nausea and diarrhea and such individuals are already in a downward spiral. They cannot absorb the nutrients that they need to regain their health, thus they become even more ill. The gentleness of Calcium Ascorbate allows them to take sufficient vitamin C to help the healing process. Calcium Ascorbate is a neutral salt and not an acid, therefore, more people can take larger amounts without acid upset or diarrhea. Equally important is that Calcium Ascorbate replenishes the calcium that is excreted in the urine due to the chelating properties of Vitamin C.
One way to guarantee that vitamin C does not remove more calcium than that ingested is to take vitamin C as Calcium Ascorbate. Also Calcium Ascorbate is better than Sodium ascorbate as a source of Ascorbic acid because sodium often raise blood pressure and also for every 500 mg of sodium ascorbate one ingest 60 mg of sodium also. The sodium ascorbate is readily dissociated into sodium and ascorbate as sodium does not form chelates.
Uses
Calcium ascorbate is not only recommended for athletes and the elderly but also for those who wish to strengthen their muscle and bones and to hold the aging process at bay.
Calcium ascorbate is an immune booster and aids in fighting bacterial infections. It is a strong antioxidant destroying free radicals in the body. It is anti-carcinogenic, antitumorigenic and promotes bone and tooth formation. It may aid in lowering blood cholesterol level and slows the aging process. It also helps prevent prostate cancer.
Summary
Being a neutral salt, its gentleness is natural and with no need for gas-releasing harsh buffers usually used in “buffered” vitamin c formulas.
Thus calcium ascorbate has numerous advantages as a source of vitamin C and calcium. It is gentle to the stomach and helps replace any calcium that vitamin c might remove from their system.