Calcium: Key to Bone Health

Calcium is a Key Ingredient for Bone Health

Calcium is a Key Ingredient for Bone Health.  If you do not have Calcium in your diet, or take Calcium supplements, you CANNOT have strong bones.  Calcium is the mineral part of bone.  Calcium is necessary for bones to be strong.

We need more Calcium than we thought more than 50 years ago when 1000 mg daily was set as the FDA standard.   More recently the National Osteoporosis Foundation has set the total for Calcium at 1200 to 1500 mg daily.  This can be Calcium in your diet or Calcium Supplements. 

Calcium is needed for nerve and muscle function, including the heart.  The bones serve as a storehouse for Calcium.  We lose Calcium daily in skin, hair, nails, sweat, urine and feces.  If we do not eat enough Calcium, we steal some from the bones.  Over time our bones can become very weak and can break from chronic Calcium Deficiency in the diet.

Sometimes people are Calcium Deficient because they do not absorb enough of the Calcium in their diet.  People with GERD, Heartburn, Lactose Intolerance, Gluten Intolerance, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease, and Celiac Disease all may have problems absorbing Calcium.      

Remember that you also need Vit D and Magnesium in order to properly absorb Calcium.

Jay Ginther, MD                                              

2008 / Revised November 2010

Categorised in: Bone Health, Nutrition, Osteoporosis