# Calcium and magnesium: How much of each should I be... - PMRGCAuk

## PMRGCAuk

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How much of each should I be taking each day while I am taking 5 mg.of prednisone daily?

2 Replies

The calcium depends a bit on your diet - do you eat plenty of dairy?

The usual suggested supplement is something like AdCal

medicines.org.uk/emc/produc...

which has 1500mg calcium carbonate which is equivalent to 600mg elemental calcium per tablet and 400 IU vit D3. The recommended daily dose is 2 tablets, taken at separate times and separated by 2 hours from your pred. You shouldn't take more than 5-600mg calcium at one time as the body can't absorb more than that at a time, the rest will just be flushed down the loo. So pred at breakfast time, 1 Adcal at lunch and one with later to suit you. It is always a good idea to take calcium with a small amount of fat to aid transport into the cells.

Magnesium may not need to be taken daily, the supplements say what the RDA is, and taking too much at one time can have a laxative effect.

In general, the amount of magnesium per day is half the recommended amount of calcium. Calcium carbonate requires high stomach acidity to be utilized. Calcium citrate is more easily absorbed and is more effective for those with GI issues or taking acid reduction meds. These meds interfere with absorption of other minerals also, so those supplements should be taken 1-2 hours before when acidity is highest.