Supplemental Confusion

There are all manner of scientists studying supplements and their impact on weight management. No wonder, given how much money is to be made on the next kick-ass weight loss thinger. Americans love to spend money on looking better -- cosmetics, weight loss, fitness, diet, books, foods, supplements. I'm right there with 'em, babe, as this Blob demonstrates.

Here's yet another in a long line of studies on calcium and weight:

Increased total calcium intake in the form of supplements can help middle-aged adults maintain their weight over a number of years, with particular benefits to women, according to researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.  [...] The study examined people's intakes of dietary calcium, supplemental calcium and total calcium (supplements plus diet) to discover which forms of calcium were associated with weight change. The researchers found "dietary calcium alone had no significant effect on 10-year weight change," but that women who took calcium supplements saw some improvement.

-- Effects Of Calcium On Weight Maintenance Among Middle-Aged Adults

Caveat Blobbers: Calcium blocks your body's ability to absorb iron. Iron is also good for weight management, because when your womanly bodies are depleted, you tend to drag and lose steam. Iron is needed to make red blood cells -- hemoblobin, in particular, which transports oxygen to the cells. A low iron intake results in blood carrying insufficient oxygen to the cells. Fatigue. Tiredness. Unwillingness to move. Of course you're more at risk to gain weight.

Women lose iron monthly. People in the US tend to not eat foods rich in iron and women compound the deficiency by increasing calcium intake. The absorption of iron is also reduced by the presence of tannins in tea and phytates in unrefined cereals such as raw bran.

So, before you head out to buy extra bottles of Tums© or coral shell calcium tablets in the hopes that the pounds will peel off of you, please wait.

Talk to your doc. Have a blood workup, if you haven't recently, or if you're cheap, go donate blood and when they test it for anemia, let them tell you what your hemoglobin count is.

Take iron supplements carefully, and eat iron-rich foods during the day. Bear in mind that the iron in animal foods such as red meat and oily fish is more easily absorbed and used by the body than the iron in plant foods. Vitamin C also helps the body absorb iron from food, so get your C's while you're getting your Fe's ... OJ with the iron-rich cereal, or tomato on an egg sandwich. Don't drink tea with your iron-rich foods.

If you take a calcium supplement -- and you might want to consider it for avoiding osteoporosis -- then take it at night.

It will have the added benefit of aiding your sleep and it will be less likely to interfere with the absorption of the iron you'd consumed during the day.

But. Talk to your doc. And read up on it.