Calcium is a building block of health, and you must make sure you get sufficient calcium on a daily basis. Dietary sources of calcium include dairy products, as well as many different vegetables. The recommended values of calcium range between 1200 mg of calcium to 2000 mg of calcium daily that is needed to support the body and the body’s needs for calcium. We all know that calcium is vital for supporting strong teeth and healthy bones, but the truth is that calcium plays far more important roles in your body than that. Here are some of the functions that calcium supports in your body: 1. Calcium is essential for healthy blood clotting 2. Calcium supports muscle function 3. Calcium is a catalyst for enzymatic reactions 4. Calcium regulates pH 1. Calcium and Blood Clotting Blood clotting is vital for survival. When your body is injured or damaged, the body needs to stop the bleeding before it can begin to heal the wound. Although we think of injuries as cuts, scrapes, and bruises, the truth is that the body is constantly being damaged, but the damage is generally so small that you don’t know about it. Toxins in the food you eat may damage the body, as an example. Without the ability to create a blood clot to stop the bleeding, you would die, and without sufficient calcium, your blood clotting ability is impaired. Your bones are the major repository for calcium. Most of the calcium you need is stored in the bones of the body, and the body can remove the calcium from the bones in order to have access to the calcium it needs for blood clotting and other purposes. 2. Calcium and Muscle Function Calcium plays a vital role in supporting and promoting the nervous system’s ability to send and receive nerve signals. The brain, nervous system, and heart all depend on the transmissions of nerve signals to support functions. The brain uses nerve signals to regulate the functions of the body. Breathing, digestion, and other subconscious functions all rely on healthy nerve signal transmissions from your brain. The brain needs sufficient calcium to support the transmission of signals to the rest of the body. Reason, memory, learning, and cognitive function also rely on the transmissions of nerve signals within the brain itself. Muscles rely on nerve signals to tell them when to contract and relax, so movement depends on nerve signal transmissions. The heart, as one of the most important muscles in the body, depends on calcium for supporting a healthy heartbeat and heart rate. One study found that calcium supplementation reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure, making calcium helpful in the prevention of high blood pressure. 3. Calcium and Other Enzymes There are numerous enzymes and enzymatic reactions that require sufficient amounts of calcium in order to be produced, released, or to function properly. Your pancreas, for example, relies on calcium ions to open the channels that release the hormones produced by the pancreas. The two main hormones produced by the pancreas include insulin and pancreatin. Insulin is vital for supporting the healthy regulation of blood sugar levels in the body, and pancreatin contains the main digestive enzymes that facilitate the digestion of food. Since calcium is essential for the release of insulin, a lack of calcium can have serious effects for patients who suffer from diabetes. 4. Calcium Is the Natural Buffering System of Your Body You may have heard of the alkaline diet, but essentially the pH of the body needs to be maintained within very specific limits in order to sustain health. Your body possesses a number of complicated systems to ensure the pH remains within healthy levels, and one of the most important systems for regulating systemic pH is the phosphate buffering system of the body. Your body draws calcium phosphate ions from the bones in order to regulate the pH of the rest of the body. Our modern diets are extremely high in refined sugars, flours, and other foods that create acidity in the body. Our needs for calcium to buffer the body may therefore have increased. How Much Calcium Do You Need? This question is impossible to answer since every individual has different nutritional needs, depending on age, gender, and the particular circumstances of the individual. While dietary guidelines range between 1500 mg and 2000 mg per day, these limits may differ depending on the diet. A good calcium supplement, such as those by Dee Cee Laboratories or American Biologics can help you to ensure you get sufficient calcium on a daily basis.