Here at Supplement Reviews UK, we’ve long been fans of Performance Lab so we’re excited to review its new calcium supplement.
We’re honestly excited to see standalone vitamins and minerals from such a respected brand, giving us more choice of supplements for our individual needs.
Long Story Short: If you’re looking for a quality calcium supplement, we highly recommend Performance Lab Calcium. It has a modest but effective dose of 300mg of calcium, avoiding dangerous megadoses. It also uses three premium forms of calcium that increase bioavaiability and reduce the risk of side effects. BUY it here
But before we delve into the specifics of Performance Lab Calcium, let’s talk a little about why calcium is so crucial in the first place. And who might benefit from taking calcium supplements…
The Benefits of Calcium
You likely know that calcium is important for healthy teeth and bones, but it plays more of a role in the body than you’re probably aware. Calcium helps to:
- Support teeth enamel for healthy teeth.
- Promote bone density, keeping your bones strong (alongside vitamin D3, more of that later).
- Regulate muscle contractions – this also includes your heartbeat.
- Ensure your blood is clotting normally.
- Aid neurotransmission – keeping nerve impulses travelling effectively between neurons – which helps to raise your mood.
- Release the energy from your food. As such, calcium contributes to energy and overall vitality in the long term as it plays a role in the production of ATP – the body’s cellular energy.
So, your bones, teeth, heart, nerves and muscles need calcium to function optimally.
What if You Don’t Get Enough Calcium?
The body doesn’t produce calcium so you must get it through your diet or supplementation. Consuming too little calcium or having a calcium deficiency can contribute to low bone mass, a potential risk factor for osteoporosis.
Recommended Calcium Intake: Daily Calcium Requirement
- Adults in the UK should consume 700mg of calcium a day.
- This increases to 1,250mg for breastfeeding women.
- The British Dietetic Association recommends women past menopause take 1,200mg of calcium a day.
- People with Osteoporosis should take 1,000mg a day.
- THE BDA also recommends adults with Celiac Disease should take 1,000-1,500mg a day.
See the BDA recommendations here
Who Would Benefit from Taking a Calcium Supplement?
While pretty much everyone could benefit from taking a modest calcium supplement, there are certain groups that are more at risk of calcium deficiency. They include:
Vegans
Most of the dietary calcium we consume comes from milk and dairy sources, also fish with edible bones (sardines, canned salmon). If you follow a vegan diet, it can be difficult to gain enough calcium from other dietary sources alone (dark green leafy vegetables, calcium-infused tofu, or calcium-fortified foods).
It’s worth nothing that Performance Lab Calcium is suitable for vegans.
Anyone with Lactose Intolerance or Dislike of Dairy
If lactose intollerance or simple dislike reduces your consumption of dairy products, you may also want to look at calcium supplements.
Post-Menopausal Women
As women go through the menopause, the amount of oestrogen in their system falls – impacting the body’s ability to absorb calcium. At the same time, the body leeches more calcium from the bones, expelling it in urine. A double whammy.
Bone is a living tissue and every day we produce new bone cells and resorb or clear away old bone cells. A lack of oestrogen hampers the creation of the new cells and increases the resorption of the old cells. At the same time, our ability to absorb calcium from the gut declines as we get older.
All of which can lead to a loss in bone density over time, making bones weaker and more likely to fracture. The British Dietetic Association recommends increasing your calcium dose to 1,200mg after the menopause.
<<< See the Best Vitamins for Women Over 50 Here >>>
Those on a Keto Diet
A keto diet tries to keep carbs low, and lots of calcium-rich foods are high in carbohydrates. As such, dieters often lack key vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin D. Clinicians often recommend dieters take a calcium supplement.
Anyone Needing a Top-Up
Thanks to its gentle dose of calcium, Performance Lab Calcium is ideal for topping up suspected low levels of the mineral without risking a super high dose. You can check your overall calcium intake via the University of Edinburgh’s Calcium Calculator
About Performance Lab’s Calcium Supplement
Performance Lab Calcium contains a relatively modest amount of calcium – three capsules a day will give you 300mg of calcium. Compared to many other calcium tablets on the market, that’s quite a low dose, but we suspect there’s a good reason for that.
Performance Lab makes safe, healthy supplements that veer away from megadoses.
Megadoses can be dangerous. Ironically, a lot of the calcium in them won’t be absorbed anyway as it’s better to take calcium little and often.
Performance Lab Calcium avoids those common mistakes. It spreads its dose out throughout the day.
Likewise, the UK recommends a daily dose of 700mg of calcium, increasing to 1,200mg for menopausal women. Most people will be able to get some of that from natural sources, so Performance Lab Calcium is playing it safe here.
The 300mg or 23% DV provides a gentle top-up calcium supplement suitable for most people. One that shouldn’t cause potential side effects.
Performance Lab Calcium Uses Three Different Types of Calcium
Performance Lab uses three different types of calcium – Malate + Citrate + NutriGenesis®. Each has its own benefits:
Calcium Malate: Calcium malate is highly bioavailable and should be absorbed well even in people with low stomach acid (more common in people over 50). Together with calcium citrate, calcium malate has been shown not to promote the risk of developing kidney stones.
Calcium Citrate: The use of calcium citrate means you can take this supplement with or without food, increasing its usability. Calcium citrate has also proven to be better absorbed than some other forms of calcium and contributes less to potential stomach and constipation issues.
NutriGenesis® Calcium: This is Performance Lab’s own-grown vitamin. The NutriGenesis process creates lab-grown vitamins and minerals that carry all the same co-factors found in nature. Having natural amino acids, probiotics, antioxidants and other co-factors makes the calcium more bioavailable, increasing its absorption.
Pros of Performance Lab Calcium
- Includes a gentle dose of calcium providing 23% of the recommended Daily Value that is safer to take than megadose supplements.
- Can be taken with or without food.
- Avoids the cheaper forms of calcium and instead uses premium nature-identical sources of calcium which are more bioavailable. These also don’t carry a risk of developing kidney stones.
- Taking three tablets a day mimics the consumption of dietary calcium which would be consumed throughout the day and not all at once.
- Performance Lab is suitable for vegans and approved by the Vegetarian Society
- It’s a super clean formula – it is free from artificial additives, non-GMO, free of soy, allergens and gluten, and non-irradiated.
Cons of Performance Lab Calcium
- Some people may not like having to take three tablets a day.
- Performance Lab Calcium is only available via the official website, though it does offer discounts for multiple purchases.
- It would have been nice if Performance Lab combined calcium and vitamin D into one supplement. Then again they already have a vitamin D3 supplement on sale. So we’re probably asking for too much here.
Safety/ Side Effects
Calcium supplements should cause few side effects, especially if you’re taking safe amounts and avoiding megadoses. The most common side effects include constipation, gas and bloating, but that most often happens with calcium carbonate – not included in Performance Lab Calcium.
Health Warnings of Calcium Supplements
As we’ve already discussed, taking too much calcium isn’t good for you. The NHS warns not to take more than 1,500mg daily or you risk stomach issues. Taking less than 1,500mg is ‘unlikely to cause any harm’, says the NHS. Use the calculator above to check how much calcium you’re getting from all your different sources.
High levels of calcium can cause kidney stones – though that shouldn’t be the case here as Performance Lab Calcium offers a safe amount and uses forms of calcium known to discourage kidney stones.
Calcium supplements can also interact with several different medications, including medication for blood pressure and antibiotics – check with a doctor before use.
How to Take
The literature from Performance Lab recommends taking three capsules a day, with or without food. Of course, follow any specific advice from your doctor.
Taking three capsules a day allows you to mimic normal dietary consumption of calcium, with meals between helping to boost absorption.
Our Advice: Take Your Calcium Supplement with Vitamin D
To absorb calcium, your body also needs vitamin D. Increasing your calcium intake will do little if you don’t also ensure you’re getting enough vitamin D.
The NHS recommends gaining 10 micrograms of vitamin D (400IU) a day. This can come from fortified foods or the sun, but the NHS also recommends everyone over the age of four should supplement vitamin D during Autumn and Winter when sun exposure is less.
If you’re not outdoors a lot, usually wear clothes that cover the skin when outdoors or have dark skin, you may not gain enough vitamin D from the sun even during the summer months (especially in the UK!).
If that’s the case, experts recommend supplementing with vitamin D all year round. Our absorption of vitamin D also falls as we age.
The good news is that Performance Lab also has a standalone vitamin D supplement, called D3 + K2. This can be safely used alongside Performance Lab Calcium.
About Performance Lab D3 + K2.
As the name suggests, Performance Lab D3 + K2 uses the highly bioavailable form of vitamin D3, as opposed to the weaker D2. Vitamin D3 is crucial in helping the body absorb calcium.
Here it is merged with vitamin K2, useful for the regulation of calcium in the body as well as blood clotting.
Together both help the absorption and bodily use of natural and supplemental calcium.
Conclusion
We’re big supporters of healthy and safe supplementation here at Supplement Reviews UK. We’re not fans of megadoses or buzz ingredients that sound good but do nothing.
That’s why we like Performance Lab’s Calcium supplement. It’s safe, well thought out, and genuinely useful.
Performance Lab could have saved money by using cheaper calcium carbonate as its calcium source, but instead, it opts for three premium ingredients.
Calcium malate, citrate and NutriGenesis help to boost absorption, reduce the risk of kidney stones, and allow you to take the capsules with or without food.
Likewise, it chooses a modest 300mg dose – 23% of DV – to provide a great option to top up low levels of calcium.
Buy some of the other calcium tablets on the market and you’re getting massive doses of calcium that you don’t need, can’t absorb, and potentially leave you with tummy troubles that you don’t want. None of that should happen with Performance Lab Calcium.
We’re happy to recommend Performance Lab Calcium as one of the safest and cleanest calcium supplements on the market today.