Effect Of Dietary Calcium On The Colonic Luminal Environment

DrJ

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Effect of dietary calcium on the colonic luminal environment.

(.pdf is actually available on this one!)

Abstract: Dietary supplementation with calcium may prevent the development of colorectal cancer. This mechanism may be related to fatty acid and bile salt chelation in the small bowel forming non-toxic calcium-soap compounds. Calcium may also act locally or systemically on the colonic mucosa. Faecal concentrations of free fatty acids and free bile acids were measured in 17 Sprague-Dawley rats (weighing 472 (39 g)) whose daily calcium intake had been trebled by enriching the chow and adding calcium lactate (24 g/l) to the drinking water. Mean (SEM) faecal concentrations of free bile acids were 33% less than in 19 controls (1.23 (0.15) v 1.82 (0.20) mg/g; p less than 0.001), whereas free fatty acid concentrations were 117% higher (14.68 (3.59) v 6.76 (2.41) mg/g; p less than 0.02). The 'direct' effect of calcium was assessed by organ culture of rat colonic explants in three different concentrations of calcium. Crypt cell production rate (measured by a stathmokinetic technique), which was (mean (SEM)) 4.80 (0.23) cells/crypt/h in control medium (Ca2+ = 2.14 mmol/l), fell by 43% when calcium concentration was doubled (p less than 0.05) and by a further 43% when the concentration was trebled (p less than 0.02). Calcium binds free fatty acids but not free bile acids intraluminally. Calcium has a direct antitropic action on colonic crypts.

Basically the authors find that increasing the calcium content of the water and food fed to rats had several positive effects:
  • Reduced free bile acids in the lumen
  • Increased excretion of free fatty acids bound to the Ca2+ ions (including unsaturated fats!)
  • Reduced turnover rate of crypt cells
  • Notably, despite a 3x increase in calcium intake, serum calcium did not rise

I've been searching for an article like this for a long time which seems to explain one of the benefits I've been getting from a peat-y diet that I could not find any supporting explanation for. Once I started taking large amounts of calcium (in milk; sometimes eggshells) and as long as I was taking enough magnesium to keep from getting constipated, it was like my digestive system was working like clockwork; extremely smoothly and quickly - rarely needing bath tissue. I think it's the formation of the calcium soaps from Ca2+ and the fatty acids that this article speaks of. That acts like a lubricant that protects the lining of the colon (lower crypt cell turnover). I read also somewhere else that the calcium soaps are anti-bacterial, so that's probably also a plus if one desires keeping a sterile colon. Plus it makes my ***t smell like roses. True story :)
 

Ewelina

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Aug 2, 2014
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I've noticed the same effect after adding a lot of calcium carbonate to my diet.
 

sladerunner69

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Calcium stokes the metabolism so I wouldn't be surprised if that alone was the mechanism for systemic anti-cancer properties
 

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