Ray Peat on Calcium

Short answer: Ray Peat's central point about calcium is a paradox: eating too little of it causes calcium to build up in the wrong places. He wrote that enough dietary calcium, with less phosphate, protects the bones, the blood vessels and the metabolic rate.

What Ray Peat wrote about calcium

His article on calcium stresses that calcium deposits in soft tissue get worse when the diet is low in calcium. The same metabolic problems that pull calcium out of bone push it into blood vessels and other soft tissues. Source: Calcium and Disease: Hypertension, organ calcification, & shock, vs. respiratory energy, Phosphate, activation, and aging

The ratio matters. Cereals, legumes, meat and fish are naturally high in phosphate relative to calcium. Leaves such as kale, turnip greens and beet greens, many fruits, milk and cheese have a safer ratio. Source: Phosphate, activation, and aging

Enough calcium quiets the parathyroid glands. He describes a diet with enough calcium to limit their activity, low in phosphate and polyunsaturated fat, with sugar rather than starch. Source: Phosphate, activation, and aging

Carbon dioxide increases the absorption and retention of calcium and the excretion of phosphate, and lets calcium carbonate be laid down in bone. Source: Phosphate, activation, and aging

Calcium carbonate, from eggshell or oyster shell, with vitamins D and K can produce quick anti-stress effects: he lists relief of insomnia, hypertension, edema, inflammation and allergies. Source: Milk in context: allergies, ecology, and some myths

The low-energy cell is the one that holds on to calcium and iron, which he placed in the vicious circle of aging. Source: Multiple Sclerosis and other hormone related brain syndromes

He noted that aspirin, like vitamin K, supports cell respiration and favors bone calcification. Source: Osteoporosis, aging, tissue renewal, and product science

What he suggested in practice

• Milk and cheese as the daily base.
• Fruit and well-chosen greens to improve the ratio. Coffee also helps lower phosphate.
• Calcium carbonate with vitamins D and K when a quick effect is needed.
• Less grain, beans and muscle meat without gelatin, which carry the phosphate.

Where he wrote about it

This topic comes up in 64 of the articles on his site. These are the most relevant ones:

• Calcium and Disease: Hypertension, organ calcification, & shock, vs. respiratory energy · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Phosphate, activation, and aging · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Milk in context: allergies, ecology, and some myths · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Osteoporosis, harmful calcification, and nerve/muscle malfunctions · original on raypeat.com ↗
• The transparency of life: Cataracts as a model of age-related disease · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Sugar issues · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Alzheimer's: The problem of Alzheimer's disease as a clue to immortality — part 2 · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Bone Density: First Do No Harm · original on raypeat.com ↗

My take

Calcium is one of my non-negotiables. I take 3 to 5 g a day from milk, cheese and calcium carbonate. That is above the official upper limit, so treat it as what I do, not as a recommendation. More in The calcium paradox.

Quick answers

What did Ray Peat say about calcium?

That a low calcium intake causes calcium to leave the bones and deposit in soft tissues, and that enough calcium with less phosphate protects bones, blood vessels and metabolism.

What did Ray Peat say about the calcium to phosphate ratio?

That cereals, legumes, meat and fish are high in phosphate relative to calcium, while milk, cheese, many fruits and leaves such as kale have a safer ratio.

Which calcium supplement did Ray Peat mention?

Calcium carbonate, such as eggshell or oyster shell, together with vitamins D and K.