Heart Health

(Note this is my personal experience, not a clinical study, so please don't take this as medical advice. Check with your doctor before changing your health routine.)

I initially created Zen Friend PM for my patients who had skin disorders and food intolerances. They needed a calcium supplement to fill a gap in their diet, and they had chronic skin inflammation, which may be linked to metabolic acidosis, so alkalisation was a part of their treatment plan.

Some types of calcium and magnesium do a wonderful thing: they help alkalise the blood, which may reduce acidosis and food intolerance symptoms like salicylate intolerance, which can ultimately improve skin health.

So while Zen Friend PM is a sleep and nervous system supplement, it quietly does more.

There are several methods to reduce food chemical intolerance, which is linked to eczema, hives and other symptoms, like ringing in the ears. Skin Friend AM uses one method and Zen Friend PM uses another, through alkalinisation.

The method of urinary alkalinisation "traps" the salicylate in the kidneys' renal tubules (preventing its reabsorption into the blood), which may increase salicylate clearance by 10 to 20 times, thus reducing (at least temporarily) salicylate intolerance symptoms. That's one of the ways Zen Friend PM may help calm reactive, itchy skin, especially at night.

Calcium, lead & heart health: how to get it right

During the research and development phase, it was noted some types of calcium were high in lead, such as plant calcium, which may not be suitable for children or pregnant women. So choosing pure calcium became an important part of formulating Zen Friend PM.

Calcium also needs the right support nutrients or it may do weird things in the body, like deposit in blood vessels and even affect heart health. I learnt this the hard way.

As a child I often guzzled milk (sometimes a litre a day), plus yoghurt and ice cream, and had heart palpitations that no one connected to my very high calcium diet. Possibly because I told no one — I was a kid and thought my heartbeat was normal... but it did catch my attention at times. 

It got worse during adulthood. This is where I went wrong...

As an adult, I took a popular multivitamin with high dose B vitamins and very little magnesium, alongside a calcium-rich diet — around 1000 mg a day, the Australian recommended daily intake (RDI) for women my age, but sometimes I had more. I ended up in hospital with atrial fibrillation and needed a magnesium drip to normalise my heartbeat. High calcium, teamed with low magnesium unbalanced my body. 

Of course, after this I thought magnesium was the answer.

But when I consumed calcium in my diet, even with high-dose magnesium supplementation, I would get chest pains, heart palpitations or temporary fibrillation. It was a little scary.

Through testing different calcium and magnesium ratios for Zen Friend PM, we found a 1:1 combination both alkalising for bone and skin health, and balanced for heart health and general health and wellbeing, to support the whole body. Not just skin or bones.

For me, it meant no more chest pains or palpitations. My sleep greatly improved, and my excruciating foot cramps finally ceased.

Some of the research uncovered during this time:

• Magnesium is a natural calcium channel blocker and it helps guide calcium into the bones (Houston, 2011; Asbaghi, 2020).
• Magnesium and vitamin K2 both support muscle relaxation and may reduce muscle cramping (Barna, 2021; Tan, 2024; Xu, 2022) and improve sleep quality (Arab, 2023).
• Poorly formulated calcium and vitamin D supplements (without vitamin K2 and magnesium) may cause muscle cramps.
• Vitamin K2 regulates calcium, guiding calcium out of the bloodstream via an anti-calcification protein (matrix Gla) and into bone storage, so calcium is less likely to deposit on blood vessels (Hariri, 2021). This is important for heart health. 

So we added K2 to the original PM formula, using a double-encapsulated form for stability (most K2 supplements lose potency quickly). The difference is noticeable and you may even feel your muscles relax.

As a bonus, the double encapsulation means PM can be added to hot drinks without K2 being destroyed by heat.

Zen Friend PM contains 300 mg each of calcium and magnesium plus an encapsulated form of K2 called menaquinone-7 which is the best type for heart health. Note I also consume another 400 mg of calcium from my diet (from calcium-fortified oat milk), and my heart seems happy with this.

While I don't guzzle large strawberry milkshakes or yoghurt anymore, I enjoy a small latte each day with a scoop of Zen Friend PM (to make acidic coffee more acid-alkaline balanced as this is better for bone health). I also have oat milk on my breakfast cereal and take another scoop of Zen Friend PM in a glass of water while I cook dinner.

This equates to about 700 mg of calcium per day, which is in line with the UK dietary guidelines for calcium for adults my age. This works for my body.  

Note, children generally don't have heart problems and can safely consume higher amounts of calcium to support their bone growing phase (see UK calcium guidelines for all ages including kids and pregnant women here.) Due to its higher lead content, children and pregnant women should still avoid “natural plant calcium”, which is often found in natural health supplements and some plant milks.

Your routine might look different from mine, but if you choose to follow a similar path, I am confident Zen Friend PM is a safe and effective supplement that can visibly benefit children and adults, in many ways.

We're really proud of the safety and effectiveness of Zen Friend PM and we love hearing your personal stories, so feel free to share yours with us, like Rhona, in her review below.

Not just good for skin — good for heart health too

“I take PM every evening with dinner and really notice the benefit to my skin, hair and nails. I recently had a scan for calcium deposits in my heart due to high cholesterol and was so pleased to get a zero score. When I looked further into K2, which is in the PM, I realised one of its main functions is to assist calcium absorption to the right places - eg your bones. Amazing! The magnesium really helps with relaxation too.”