Premium LifeCal and Premium Calcium Plus – formulated by Dr. Bruce Berkowsky
Copyright 2009-2022 by Joseph Ben Hil-Meyer Research, Inc.
By Bruce Berkowsky, N.M.D., M.H., NCTMB
Dr. Berkowsky’s Premium Nutrition Calcium Formulas:
How They Are Made And Why They Are Extraordinary On Many Levels
For nearly 25 years I have served as product formulator for Nature’s Design, a cutting-edge company which offers product lines (including Premium Nutrition) of exquisite quality nutritional and herbal supplements. I have formulated these products to work with the body’s vital force rather than overruling it.
My formulating strategy is not to inefficiently supply mega-doses of potentially useful nutrients, but rather, to provide highly utilizable, synergistically enhanced nutrients and other biochemical moieties in a form and quantity that efficiently supports the body’s “inner physician” in its duties of maintenance and repair. The key principles in this context are highest quality ingredients and manufacture, and intra-ingredient balance and synergy.
To date, I have formulated two unique magnesium formulas: Premium LifeCal and Premium Calcium Plus. These two products have been used by many thousands of people over the last 20-years, and their enormous popularity continues to grow. We commonly hear from people who report they have never found another calcium product that can serve as an adequate substitute for either of these products.
Both of these calcium products contain calcium aspartate and calcium succinate. Premium LifeCal also contain calium citrate, microcrystaline calcium hydoxyapatite and calcium amino acid chelate. In order for a mineral to be absorbed from the small intestine (the primary site of nutrient absorption) into the blood, it has to be attached to a substance that serves as a mineral transporter that will carry it through the intestinal wall into the blood, and then, from the blood into the cells.
Calcium citrate is formed by the bonding of elemental calcium and citric acid. The latter is an organic acid found in many fruits, which effectively bonds to many minerals and trace nutrients and serves as a very effective transporter across the gastrointestinal mucosa (the lining which covers the inside of the stomach and intestines). Citrates are highly bioavailable; therefore, large doses are not required to ensure efficacious uptake into the blood.
Microcrystalline calcium hydroxyapatite is an extract of young bovine bone that is an exceptionally well-absorbed, well-tolerated form of calcium which has been found to not only prevent further loss of bone, but to restore bone calcium content.
Calcium succinate is produced by chemically reacting calium and succinic acid. Succinic acid is an organic acid (that occurs naturally in both plant and animal tissue) involved in the Kreb’s Cycle (energy producing cycle of chemical reactions within the cells) which forms a well-absorbed chelate with minerals such as calcium and magnesium in the gastrointestinal tract.
A mineral chelator is a substance that tightly bonds with a mineral atom and transports the mineral through the gastrointestinal mucosa, the blood vessel wall and/or the cell membrane. This bound-pair, consisting of chelator and mineral atom, is referred to as a mineral chelate.
Amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) are high quality mineral chelators that are recognized by the gastrointestinal mucosa and/or cell membrane as a desirable molecule, and thus, are readily absorbed along with their mineral payloads.
Due to a dedicated amino acid transport system found in cells of the intestinal wall, amino acids are particularly well-absorbed through the gastrointestinal mucosa. Therefore, when a mineral atom is strongly bonded with amino acids, it is far more efficiently absorbed into the blood than it would be in the form of an inorganic salt, such as calcium lactate or calcium carbonate.
In fact, chelation of minerals in digested food with amino acids is a process that occurs naturally in the gut. In other words, it is one of the fundamental ways the body facilitates the absorption of minerals into the system. Thus, laboratory-produced amino acid chelated minerals mimic one of the body’s own preferred methods of enhancing mineral absorption.
Also, amino acid chelation of minerals helps to counter competitive interactions that can occur between different minerals (e.g., between calcium and magnesium) when they are taken as inorganic salts (e.g., dolomite). In the small intestine, minerals such as calcium, magnesium and zinc will naturally compete for the same transporters to ferry them across the intestinal membrane into the blood. Thus, a relatively large amount of one of these minerals may block the absorption of much smaller amounts of the others if they are simultaneously present at the site of absorption. As amino acid chelated minerals are already bonded to their own transporters, the problem of intra-mineral competition is greatly reduced.
An amino acid consists of an amino group of atoms, an acid group, and an R-group. Variations among R-groups determine the character of the different amino acids, such as alanine, aspartic acid (which forms calcium aspartate when bonded with calcium), lysine and tyrosine. When formulating products containing amino acid chelates, I select specific amino acids according to the functions they serve in the body and their relative effectiveness as mineral transporters. Then, I balance the proportions of each of the amino acid chelates to create a mineral formula that is well-absorbed, dynamic in activity, finely balanced and very comfortable and nurturing to the body.
Both Premium Nutrition’s LifeCal and Premium Calcium Plus are at the very top of the quality range of commercially available calcium formulas.
Calcium Plus also features a matrix of calcium-rich herbs that contain natural calciu,m co-factors, making this preparation, essentially, a calcium food. In this way the absorption and utilization of the calcium is enhanced. The following herbs are in this formula: chamomile, horsetail, alfalfa, nettle leaves, hawthorn berries and Irish moss.
Over the years, both of these products have developed large fan bases. Determining which one is most suitable for a given individual is largely a trial and error process (many people not only do well with both, but actually use both at the same time). However, a basic rule of thumb is that while Calcium Plus, with its herbal base, is somewhat more dynamic in action, LifeCal is the best place to start for those individuals who may be sensitive to herbs or have sensitive systems. Of course, if a person’s health-building regimen is being guided by a health professional, that person can help to determine which one of these calcium formulas may be more personally suitable.
If you would like to order these very fine products, click on the following link: Ask Healthy Way
Written by Dr. Bruce Berkowsky, N.M.D., M.H., NCTMB
www.NaturalHealthScience.com
Dr. Berkowsky, a registered naturopath, master herbalist and classical homeopath–is President of Joseph Ben Hil-Meyer Research, Inc. He is the founder/teacher of both Spiritual PhytoEssencing and the Natural Health Science System which he designed following many years of research and clinical practice, and includes herbology, nutrition, homeopathy, aromatherapy, exercise, traditional nature-cure as well as East/West healing arts/bodywork. Dr. Berkowsky teaches in-depth seminars/teleseminars/workshops to health-care professionals and spiritually aware individuals.
Disclaimer: This publication is intended as an educational tool, and not as a prescription. Seek the advice of your health-care provider before discontinuing any medication and/or trying any new remedy or technique.