Coral Calcium – The answer to how do you spell HYPE?

Article by Arnie Gitomer

The following is an article by Dr. Michael Murray. The article appears on Doctor Murray's web site, http://www.doctormurray.com/Articles.htm Michael T. Murray, N.D. is widely regarded as one of the world's leading authorities on natural medicine. He is a graduate, faculty member, and serves on the Board of Trustees of Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Murray is the co-author of A Textbook of Natural Medicine, the definitive textbook on naturopathic medicine for physicians, as well as the consumer version - Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine. He has also written over 20 other books including How to Prevent and Treat Cancer with Natural Medicine; The Pill Book Guide to Natural Medicine; Dr. Murray's Total Body Tune-Up; 5-HTP: The Natural Way to Overcome Depression, Obesity, and Insomnia; The Healing Power of Herbs; and the Encyclopedia of Nutritional Supplements. Doctor Murray has also initiated an email newsletter that is available at no charge.

Coral Calcium – The answer to how do you spell HYPE?

Introduction

As one of the leading proponents of natural products, I am a firm believer in the value of proper nutritional supplementation. Over the years, however, I have been angered by the shameless marketing of bogus products with unsubstantiated, absolutely ridiculous claims. The latest in this growing list of shame is “coral calcium.” Since I am fielding an ever growing number of questions about this product, I have decided to finally address it formally. Be patient, read the whole article and you will hopefully see that while it is true that calcium is an essential mineral, coral calcium is not quality calcium supplement.

What is coral?

Coral is composed of tiny, fragile living organisms called coral polyps. The coral polyps take calcium carbonate or limestone from the sea and build protective structures around themselves. As coral polyps die, new generations of coral polyps then grow on top of the coral and coral reefs are formed.

While coral reefs cover less than 1% of the planet's surface, they are homes to over 25% of all marine life (over 4,000 different species of fish, 700 species of coral, and thousands of other plants and animals). Since coral reefs are among the world's most fragile and endangered ecosystems, strict laws are enforced to preserve them.

What is coral calcium?

Since it is severely illegal to mine “live” coral reefs, coral calcium has to come from a different source. So what is the source? Marketers tell us that it is either taken from old seabeds buried in the so-called “pristine” desert; or mined from “fossilized coral sands that accumulated on the sea floor;” or harvested from “only coral that washes up on the shore.” Sounds good, right? The bottom line, however, is that it doesn’t make much difference.

What is the hype?

What the marketers of coral calcium do is exploit and exaggerate the known importance and function of calcium and then try to tie those benefits and more to their product. Here is just a brief list of the diseases claimed to be miraculously cured by coral calcium:

Cancer	Diabetes	Arthritis
Heart Disease	Osteoporosis	Eczema
Alzheimer's Disease	Fibromyalgia	High Cholesterol
Muscle Cramps	Kidney Stones	Gallstones
Gout	Indigestion	Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Lupus	Hiatal Hernia	Hypertension
Headaches

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