Book Review of The Calcium Key: The Revolutionary Diet Discovery That Will Help You Lose Weight Faster

Michael Zemel, Ph.D. and coauthor Bill Gottlieb share informative and groundbreaking research about the power of calcium to help you lose weight, lower your blood pressure, and cut your risk of osteoporosis, colon cancer, PMS, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, and other health problems.

The book starts at the beginning of the problem with an overweight America, stating that only 35% of Americans are at a normal weight and the rest have a BMI that is higher than what is healthy. He lists a host of problems that can result from having a higher than normal BMI, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type II diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

The calcium key begins with understanding key hormonal mechanism in the body that keeps calcium levels from dropping too low. If levels drop too low the body secretes parathyroid hormone which in turns releases the hormone, calcitriol. Calcitriol helps the body absorb and retain calcium and it acts on the smooth muscle cells of the arteries, allowing calcium to move into the cells, and raise blood pressure. If calcium levels are low, the body makes more calcitriol as a way of retaining calcium. If calcium levels are high, the body makes less calcitriol, allowing the arteries to relax, which keeps blood pressure normal.

Building on this understanding, it turns out that as the amount of calcitriol in the body increases, the amount of fat stored in cells increases, showing a direct connection between calcitriol and fat cells.

Dr. Zemmel conducted a study with mice in which they were all fed a high fat diet so they would gain weight. Then they were divided into four groups. The first group was allowed to eat whatever they wanted of a high fat, high sugar, and low calcium diet. The second group had a low calcium, calorie restricted diet, while the third group had a calorie restricted diet but calcium supplements were added. Group four had a restricted calorie diet, and they also received calcium, but the calcium came from non-fat milk. Results showed that high calclium groups lost the most weight and their amount of fat decreased the most. The group that received their calcium from milk, rather than supplements, lost the most weight and fat.

After reading this book I better understood the importance of calcium in the diet, and the fact that getting calcium through natural foods has the best results. This is not surprising, as it appears that supplements are helpful, but not as powerful as nutritious food. I recommend this book to anyone who would like to gain a better understanding of the relationship between calcium and fat. The book also includes recipes and meal plans. For Health tips check out my

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