What are the types of calcium?

Although there are many kinds of calcium supplements, calcium supplements can be divided into two categories according to the chemical composition of calcium sources, namely inorganic calcium and organic calcium.

Inorganic calcium

At present, there are two kinds of inorganic calcium available in the market: calcium carbonate and calcium hydrogen phosphate.

1, calcium carbonate: calcium carbonate itself is a white amorphous powder, which is insoluble in water and soluble in dilute acid. It is characterized by high calcium content, and the elemental calcium content reaches 40%, which is the highest among calcium preparations at present. Moreover, calcium carbonate preparation is cheap, easily accepted by consumers and widely used. But it consumes more gastric acid in the stomach, which is irritating to the stomach. Calcium carbonate can be made into various dosage forms, such as tablet granules and liquid calcium; Color can also be added to the preparation to make it yellow, pink, etc. Other manufacturers add essence in the preparation process, so that the medicine presents orange flavor, strawberry flavor and other flavors. So we will see many different calcium supplements, in fact, their basic components are calcium carbonate.

2. Calcium hydrogen phosphate: Calcium hydrogen phosphate is a white crystalline powder, commonly known as "baking soda", which has no taste. Calcium hydrogen phosphate is widely used in food industry. It is used as loosening agent, dough improver, buffer, nutritional supplement, emulsifier, stabilizer and so on. For example, when baking cookies, adding appropriate amount of calcium phosphate can make cookies more crisp and increase the calcium content of cookies. The calcium content of calcium hydrogen phosphate is about 29%, which is lower than calcium carbonate.

3. Active calcium: Active calcium is not a single kind of calcium, but the main component is calcium carbonate, except that the raw material of this calcium carbonate is biological calcium (shellfish), which is fired at high temperature. Strictly speaking, active calcium is a mixture, the main component is calcium carbonate, but also contains a small amount of calcium oxide and calcium hydroxide. Because of this, activated calcium is very alkaline, and the pH value of some activated calcium can reach 10~ 12, which is already strong alkaline. Irritating to gastrointestinal tract, not suitable for children, the elderly and people with gastric acid deficiency. Eating with food can reduce gastrointestinal irritation. At present, such products are rare in the market.

Organic calcium

Hundreds of calcium preparations on the market are mainly organic calcium, and there are many kinds with their own characteristics. Let's choose the most important ones to briefly introduce them.

1, calcium citrate: also known as calcium citrate, containing 2 1% elemental calcium, slightly soluble in water. The pH value of calcium citrate is close to neutral, which has little stimulation to gastrointestinal tract and is suitable for calcium supplementation in patients with gastric acid deficiency. Its price is higher than calcium carbonate. At present, there are not many calcium citrate in domestic calcium preparations, but most of them are used in imported calcium preparations.

2. Calcium lactate: It is one of the traditional calcium supplements in China. It is soluble in hot water. The calcium content of calcium lactate is not high, and its elemental calcium content is 13%. Calcium lactate is cheap, and it can be decided by weighing the cost performance when choosing.

3. Calcium gluconate: one of the most widely used calcium supplements. It is characterized by good water solubility, pH value of 6 ~ 7/, and little irritation to gastrointestinal tract. But the calcium content is very low, 9%, which is even lower after being made into tablets. It is not acceptable for people to take dozens of calcium supplements of 800- 1000 mg every day.