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If you happen to’re a lady of a sure age, while you consider calcium your thoughts would possibly wander to, “Bought Milk?” The well-known marketing campaign from the ‘90s perpetually linked the thought of milk with robust bones and enamel. However why does milk assist offer you robust bones or enamel? You’ll be able to thank the calcium. And that connection is right — however it’s hardly the entire story. Calcium, essentially the most considerable mineral in your physique, additionally impacts your coronary heart and different necessary organs.
We have been interested by calcium’s position within the well being of your total physique, so we reached out to Isabel Smith, M.S., R.N., C.D.N., a registered dietitian and member of HealthyWomen’s Women’s Health Advisory Council.
What’s calcium and why do you want it?
Robust bones and enamel thrive on calcium. However extra than simply that, calcium is important for other daily, vital functions that go on behind the scenes: muscle contraction; nerve conduction; and the exercise of your coronary heart, blood and cells.
About 99% of calcium is stored in our bones, with the remaining 1% in blood, muscle and different tissues. Our physique is fairly savvy on the subject of monitoring the exact quantity of calcium it wants, transporting it away from the bones, which act considerably like a reservoir, then doling it out into the physique to keep up a gentle stream of calcium within the blood.
However there’s a catch: If there’s not sufficient calcium within the blood to attract from, the physique takes it out of your bones, Smith stated. Ideally, the calcium that’s “borrowed” from the bones might be changed at a later level. However this doesn’t at all times occur, and it might contribute to osteoporosis over time.
Postmenopausal ladies are significantly susceptible to calcium deficiency as a result of the lack of estrogen that occurs with menopause reduces each the quantity of calcium your physique absorbs and the quantity of calcium your bones retain.
Ranges of calcium in your blood will be measured with a calcium blood test. Slightly than present the quantity of calcium in your bones — that’s the job of a bone density check or DEXA scan — a calcium blood check can test for an excessive amount of or too little calcium in your blood and could be a useful indicator of your normal well being in addition to many medical conditions, together with bone or thyroid illness, parathyroid problems, and kidney illness.
How a lot calcium do you want every day?
Most consultants agree that girls over 50, whose our bodies usually soak up much less calcium from meals, want 1,200 mg of calcium per day.
Calcium wants fluctuate, and never each girl requires the identical quantity of calcium. As an example, youthful ladies between ages 19 and 50 want 1,000 mg of calcium each day. For pregnant and lactating ladies, 1,000 mg per day is really useful.
Are you able to get an excessive amount of calcium?
If calcium is so good for you, does that imply extra is healthier?
You would possibly suppose so, however the reply is not any.
Having an excessive amount of calcium in your blood may cause a situation referred to as hypercalcemia, which places you in danger for kidney stones, most cancers and constipation. There’s additionally analysis to counsel that for some folks, an excessive amount of calcium (particularly from dietary supplements) can accumulate within the blood vessels and will result in coronary heart problems. That’s why consultants advise ladies over 50 to not get greater than 2,000 mg each day from a mixture of meals and dietary supplements. The higher restrict for others is 2,500 mg a day.
It is necessary to pay attention to sure drugs that may maintain your physique from absorbing calcium effectively. These drugs shouldn’t be taken similtaneously calcium dietary supplements:
- Iron dietary supplements
- Some antibiotics
- Thyroid remedy
- Bisphosphonates (remedy for osteoporosis)
- Sure seizure drugs
Methods to get calcium from meals
Since our physique can’t make calcium on its own, it will get what it wants by means of meals or dietary supplements containing calcium.
Milk will not be the one food that has a lot of calcium. Others embrace:
- Dairy merchandise, comparable to yogurt and cheese
- Leafy greens (like kale)
- Broccoli
- Winter squash
- Edamame
- Canned sardines and salmon (particularly with gentle edible bones)
- Almonds and almond butter
- Fortified meals comparable to fruit juices and drinks, tofu, and cereals
Potential advantages of a calcium complement
Calcium is greatest absorbed while you get it through food. “If you happen to plan your weight loss plan to get loads of calcium by means of meals, that may be sufficient to your wants,” Smith stated.
However meals doesn’t at all times offer you sufficient calcium, and based on many national nutrition surveys, most individuals usually are not getting sufficient. Why? Some folks, like vegans or those that are lactose illiberal, discover it powerful to get sufficient calcium from meals. Identical goes for many who take corticosteroids on a long-term foundation; have sure bowel or digestive illnesses like celiac or inflammatory bowel disease, which may lower your physique’s potential to soak up calcium; or eat giant quantities of sodium or protein, which may take calcium out of your physique.
Two frequent types of calcium supplements are calcium carbonate and calcium citrate. Calcium carbonate ought to be taken with a meal, because it wants abdomen acid to dissolve, whereas calcium citrate will be taken anytime.
If in case you have hassle absorbing remedy or in case you take an iron complement or remedy for heartburn, then calcium citrate might be a better choice for you.
Everybody taking calcium dietary supplements must pair it with vitamin D, which aids in calcium’s absorption. For folks as much as age 70, experts recommend 600 IU (worldwide items) per day. After 70, you must improve your consumption to 800 IU each day. The each day restrict, based on the Institute of Medicine, shouldn’t go above 4,000 IU.
Since larger doses of calcium take longer to soak up, medical consultants advocate not taking greater than 500 mg in a single dose. If you happen to require extra, wait at least four hours earlier than taking the second dose.
Earlier than you flip to dietary supplements, be sure to know the quantity of calcium you’re getting out of your meals. “If you happen to eat 500 mg of calcium in your weight loss plan, you could solely want one other 500 mg from a complement,” Smith stated. Calcium is listed on food labels, which base the each day really useful worth on 1,200 mg of calcium. As a result of it may be complicated to calculate, you’ll be able to flip to a fast information, like this calcium calculator from the College of Alabama.
What else you might want to learn about taking calcium
It’s necessary to take into account that there are particular meals and drugs that may increase your need for calcium. That’s as a result of they trigger your physique to launch extra calcium into your urine, or they decrease the flexibility of your intestine to soak up it. Some examples embrace corticosteroids (like prednisone) and sodas containing phosphoric acid (like darkish colas). Extreme alcohol consumption can even intrude with calcium stability by interfering with the manufacturing of vitamin D, which is required for absorption.
There are advantages and dangers to taking calcium dietary supplements, stated Smith, who really useful discussing any selections to take dietary supplements along with your healthcare supplier. “When taking a complement, make sure to embrace different vitamins, like D3, K2 and magnesium, which may all assist absorption and the way your physique makes use of the calcium.”
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