Boneing Up on Calcium
By SurgeryConcerns.com Consultant Mary K. Sawyer Morse PH.D RD.
The pictures are frightening. Porous fragile bones. Broken hips and hunched backs. A lack of calcium may result in the bone thinning disease osteoporosis which affects older American men and women. Osteoporosis is a condition of gradually weakening brittle bones. As bones lose calcium and other minerals they become more fragile and porous. Osteoporosis is the cause of more than 1.5 million bone fractures each year. These fractures often lead to permanent changes in lifestyle. Calcium is a key ingredient in maintaining good bone health and slowing bone loss later in life.
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body. It plays two important roles. First it is an essential part of bone structure. Second bone calcium serves as a reservoir that releases calcium to the body fluids when there is a drop in blood calcium concentration. Calcium in body fluids plays several important roles including maintaining normal blood pressure and nerve transmission.
The establishment of recommended intakes for calcium is
difficult because absorption varies not only with age but also
with a person's vitamin D status the calcium content of the
diet and calcium binders in foods. In general calcium
recommendations are high for young people and for those over age 51 because calcium absorption declines with age.
The current recommendations are:
* Adolescents 1 300 milligrams per day (the equivalent of 4 glasses of milk)
* Women and men (19-50) 1 000 milligrams per day
* Women and men (51 years and older) 1 200 milligrams per ...
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