Calcium Supplements Back to Cynthia Reeves Tuttle home page Calcium Supplements Calcium is important to protect against osteoporosis. However, some people may need to supplement their diets with calcium pills. The differences among calcium supplements The biggest difference among calcium supplements is the amount of calcium they contain. Pay attention to the amount of calcium in the pill. The calcium may come in many forms including calcium carbonate, calcium citrate, or calcium gluconate, but only the amount of elemental calcium is of interest.
Calcium carbonate is the most concentrated form of calcium and is also the least expensive.
The more concentrated the pills are, the fewer you must take to consume the desired amount. However, there is no benefit to taking more than 500 milligrams at a time because only a certain amount can be absorbed at once. A second difference is the level of contamination with lead. Dolomite and bonemeal are natural sources of calcium whose content of lead from the environment varies and cannot be predicted. Therefore, these two should be avoided.