ZMA and Calcium

[JohnnyBuddha]

The general consensus seems to be that calcium and magnesium should be at a 2:1 ratio in your diet. If you're taking ZMA (especially if you're taking it regularly), how important do you think it is to increase your calcium intake as well? What are the possible negative effects of being comparatively deficient in calcium and what are the possible superhuman, beastly gains to be made by ensuring that you consume calcium at a roughly 2:1 ratio to your magnesium intake while on ZMA?

This is of particular interest to me because I've cut back on dairy considerably over the last few months and have increased training and ZMA consumption. I also have an interest in and respect for some of the Chinese medicine/Taoist theories on nature, nutrition, etc. and the importance of maintaining proper balance.

 

[Henry Swanson]

The general consensus seems to be that calcium and magnesium should be at a 2:1 ratio in your diet. If you're taking ZMA (especially if you're taking it regularly), how important do you think it is to increase your calcium intake as well? What are the possible negative effects of being comparatively deficient in calcium and what are the possible superhuman, beastly gains to be made by ensuring that you consume calcium at a roughly 2:1 ratio to your magnesium intake while on ZMA?

This is of particular interest to me because I've cut back on dairy considerably over the last few months and have increased training and ZMA consumption. I also have an interest in and respect for some of the Chinese medicine/Taoist theories on nature, nutrition, etc. and the importance of maintaining proper balance.

IT was my understanding that Calcium is one of the most abundant minerals available. To be honest, I've never heard anything about having a 2:1 ratio of calcium to magnesium. As with most things here, if your diet is solid I wouldn't worry about deficiencies.

 

[joshetc]

I've never heard of a 2:1 ratio of calcium to magnesium, either. To be honest, it sounds like a bad idea anyway. There are very real issues involving a constant overdose of calcium such as various stones from excess accumulation in the body in the kidneys and such.

Anything I've read regarding calcium has said anything more than 1-1.2g/day is pretty much useless, anyway.

 

[JohnnyBuddha]

Wow, I just looked up one website before posting this and it mentioned the 2:1 thing, and I could have sworn I've read it before. Maybe I'll check out some other links later on.

I also thought that a balance between mineral pairs is very important (e.g. mag and cal, iron and zinc)...bloody hell. Maybe I'll read up some more and come back. Any knowledge on this is welcome.

 

[joshetc]

I think the only real correlation is that calcium absorption inhibits magnesium absorption, so it isn't recommended to take calcium with essential magnesium supplementation (read: ZMA) as most of the magnesium is wasted, rather than absorbed.