calcium

The heart attack risk factor your doc won't mention

It could be the single biggest risk factor for a heart attack.

No, it's not your cholesterol, despite all the hype. And it's not your blood pressure, either.

It's not even your weight!

It's NOT ANY of the conditions your doctor is probably hounding you over. In fact, it's just the opposite... because there's a solid chance he won't even so much as mention this one to you.

But new research proves that this one risk factor... one that's easy to check and easier to change... could play the biggest role of all in your heart health.

The key is in calcium.

While it's an essential mineral, there's a RIGHT way to get it... and a WRONG way. And if you get it in all the wrong WAYS, it'll end up in all the wrong PLACES.

As a result, the new study finds that the more calcium you have in your circulation, the higher your risk of a heart attack.

Overall, every jump of just 0.5 mg/dL of calcium in your blood will increase your risk of a heart attack and/or coronary artery disease by about 25 percent.

Naturally, the "experts" are using this study to raise alarm over the use of calcium supplements.

That's just hogwash.

The problem isn't the calcium itself. It's how it's used -- or NOT used -- in your body.

When everything is humming along fine, calcium doesn't spend much time in your blood. It gets locked up on bone, where it belongs.

And if you have high levels in your blood, it's not a sign of too much calcium in your food or your supplements.

It's a sign that the calcium isn't going into the bone like it's supposed to.

The problem in most cases has nothing to do with the actual calcium. It's generally a sign that you're missing out on the other nutrients needed to help put it where it belongs.

Specifically, you need vitamins K2 and D, as well as the mineral magnesium.

Without all three, the calcium will keep rushing through the blood and eventually form the deposits that lead to hardened arteries and heart risk.

There are three ways to cut those risks.

First, make sure you're getting ALL of those essentials each day. A decent bone support formula should have all of them in the doses you need, including calcium. Don't be afraid of it! When taken properly -- with the other essentials -- it will CUT your heart risk, not increase it.

Second, have your doctor check you for hyperparathyroidism, a condition caused by a benign tumor on your parathyroid glands that can cause elevated blood calcium.

And third, drink more tea.

Tea can naturally chase out excess calcium, preventing buildups and, according to one study, cutting the risk of a heart attack by 29 percent.

So... get brewing!

The RIGHT way to get your calcium

What is it with calcium that drives the mainstream absolutely nuts?

Lately, it seems there's been a concentrated effort to terrify people -- especially women -- away from this essential mineral.

And it absolutely IS essential.

But you wouldn't know it by reading the latest news, where yet another study claims that getting calcium from supplements -- but not from diet -- can increase your risk of serious heart problems.

You just can't make this stuff up!

The new study claims women who get most of their calcium from supplements have higher levels of plaque in the arteries and a higher risk of heart disease.

That's the part that made headlines anyway.

But guess what? The study also found something else about calcium... something that's not getting the same level of attention.

Turns out women who have the highest calcium intake from a combination of food and supplements -- exactly how you SHOULD be getting this mineral -- have a 27 percent LOWER risk of heart disease.

The researchers don't want to talk about that. They don't want to talk about how maybe, just maybe, the women who get the highest intake of calcium from supplements alone are doing it wrong.

They don't want to talk about how these women may be living an unhealthy lifestyle and popping supplements in hopes of making up for it.

Nope.

Instead, they're using the research to talk about the "growing concerns about the potential harms of calcium supplements," according to WebMD.

It's part of a pattern with the mainstream lately, where calcium is being blamed for everything up to and including the Kennedy assassination.

Over the summer, researchers claimed calcium will increase your risk of dementia (as it turned out, the risk was only in stroke patients -- and even then, it wasn't a rock-solid connection).

Last year, a study claimed calcium -- bone-building calcium! -- will actually increase the risk of a break or fracture. (Spoiler alert: it won't.)

And in 2013, there was another scare when a study linked very high levels of calcium to heart problems. (Nope!)

If calcium were half as dangerous as they say, we'd be going extinct!

So don't fear calcium.

Just do it right and use supplements exactly as the name says: as a supplement to what you get from diet.

But don't stop there.

Calcium can't work on its own, so if you take it alone you won't see the benefits, both in your bone and your overall health.

You need the right levels of vitamins D and K as well as the mineral magnesium to put calcium to work -- so don't just load up on a single nutrient and consider your work done.

Make sure you're getting everything you need from diet when you can AND from vitamins, to make sure you don't fall short.

And for one more tip on how to maximize your calcium, check out the November edition of my monthly newsletter, Health Revelations.

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