They’re not just in your bones:
Roles of calcitonin and osteocalcin in systemic
ionic calcium balance and signaling

Ryan Bradley ND, MPH

Naturopathic Doctor (ND), Clinical Researcher,
industry consultant and educator working at the nexus of public health,
health care and complementary and integrative health.
Currently serving as the Director of Research and Senior Investigator
at the National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) in Portland, OR and
an Associate Professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Sciences
at the University of California, San Diego

•Ionic calcium balance is critically important to normal cellular replication,
mitochondrial function and health maintenance

• The functions of calcitonin extend beyond the bone and kidneys and
directly regulate the influx of Ca2+ and downstream Ca2+ signaling with
implications for fertility, cognition and breast tumorigenesis

• The functions of osteocalcin directly couple bone health, insulin sensitivity,
and adaptation to exercise via metabolic and inflammatory pathways.

• Therapeutics that directly increased Ca2+ have the potential to
dramatically improve health beyond bone health, and help explain some of
the promising case reports available for Antiorbital Ionic Calcium (AIC)
therapies.