Question: Did Dr. Royal Lee ever discuss what was the best form of calcium for dental health? Calcium diphosphate or phosphate vs lactate? Or any other?
I’m glad to help with this. Dr. Royal Lee had much to say on this topic, and current research confirms his conclusions. The key to getting calcium into the teeth for strength and protection is that the calcium must become ionized (Ca2+), or free calcium. The critical metric is ionized calcium, NOT total calcium. Ionized calcium is ready to be used in bones and tissues like cash is ready to spend. Total calcium is like a check that is not ready to spend until it is converted to cash, i.e., ionized.
CALCIUM LACTATE is the most ionizable food form of calcium. That’s why mother’s milk is calcium-bound with lactate (AKA lactic acid).
Calcium lactate is quickly ionized in the blood, ready to leave the blood and diffuse into the tissues (vitamin F) or diffuse into bone and teeth (vitamin C). Note that raw mother’s milk contains vitamin F in the cream (fat) and vitamin C in the nonfat milk plasma (skim).
Nature is so smart! Pasteurized milk contains NO lactic acid, vitamin F or vitamin C. No dairyman would try to raise a separated calf on pasteurized milk!
A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Pediatric Dentistry explores the Protective Effect of calcium lactate on teeth when hyper-exposed to Coca-Cola. Only calcium lactate-fed teeth were protected from erosion.
It’s a pretty damning study, and it demonstrates the ability of calcium lactate to build strong teeth!
I trust that this gives you a sufficient answer, but comment below if you need more information.
Be well,
Mark
Image from iStock/ViewApart.
Mark Anderson is an author, researcher, gentleman farmer, and owner of Standard Process West, Inc. He has been educating health professionals from all branches of the healing arts in the science and skills of therapeutic nutrition for almost 50 years. His foundation is the compiled works of Dr. Royal Lee, and his lectures are steeped in current peer-reviewed scientific studies and principles. He is also the heart and soul of Back to School for Doctors, the largest whole food nutrition conference in the US, held every year in Denver for over 3 decades.
For five decades now, Mark Anderson has been with Standard Process, training health professionals from all branches of the healing arts in the science of nutritional therapeutics. Along with the legendary holistic pioneer Bernard Jensen, Mark co-authored the critically acclaimed Empty Harvest: Understanding the Link Between Our Food, Our Immunity, and Our Planet.
Mark compiled, edited, and published three volumes from the works of Dr. Royal Lee, the “father of nutritional therapeutics.” He also developed and created the Selene River Press Historical Archives, a one-of-a-kind vast online resource for doctors, health seekers, and researchers. Free to all, the Historical Archives preserves the immense body of work produced by nutritional pioneers of the 20th century. The collection documents the origins of holistic thinking, a philosophy that is now bearing fruit. As Mark knows better than most, so-called “new discoveries” heralded by today’s scientific press as fundamental breakthroughs in health and healing can be traced back to discoveries made decades ago—and reported in the corpus of the Historical Archives. Mark believes that unless you want to be the ninth person to be the first to discover something, you better know your history. After all, what we often call “progress” is nothing more than the rediscovery of a truth encountered—but rejected—long ago. And too bad—credit is almost never afforded retroactively.
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Hi Mark, Great article. You piqued my interest when you spoke about ionized calcium. It made me think of Cal Amo which is also an ionized calcium. You mention above that for dental and bone issues you like calcium lactate because it is ionized calcium. Some sources say that calcium chloride (Cal Amo) actually has more calcium than calcium lactate. Would you please share why you would select Calcium Lactate over Cal Amo for bone and dental health. I have traditionally used Calcifood Wafers for bone and dental health (with Biost) with good results which is a calcium phosphate which is not ionized. I would appreciate any clarity you could bring to the differences between these three products and under what clinical situations would select one over the other. Thank you again for bringing this up. SP has a number of specialized calcium products and understanding their nuances more deeply is very helpful.
Dr. Beth John
Mark, One additional question to my question above….in the case of someone who has a history of kidney stones, but needs bone or dental help, what calcium would you recommend?