Glossary: calcium

calcium

What is it?

This MINERAL, we've been taught since grammar school, builds strong bones and teeth. In fact, 99 percent of the body's supply of calcium goes into the formation and maintenance of bones and teeth. Maintenance is the key word here for calcium is constantly being shuttled from bones to meet other bodily needs (the transmission of nerve impulses, for example, the clotting of blood, the regulation of heart muscle rhythm and the absorption of VITAMIN B12). Then, if there's an excess, it's redeposited. Hormones and VITAMIN D control the body's use of calcium; indeed, the body can't even absorb calcium without vitamin D. Recent studies suggest that calcium plays a far bigger role in the body than originally thought. It may be important in both preventing and treating high blood pressure (hypertension). It's been found to ease the symptoms of PMS, to reduce the risk of heart disease, strokes, colon cancer, even kidney stones.

1997 ADEQUATE INTAKE VALUE FOR CALCIUM
babies: birth to 6 months 6 to 12 months	210 mg per day 270 mg per day
children: 1 to 3 years 4 to 8 years 9 to 13 years	500 mg per day 800 mg per day 1,300 mg per day
adults: 14 to 18 years 19 to 50 years 51+ years	1,300 mg per day 1,000 mg per day 1,200 mg per day
pregnant women: 18 years or less 19 to 50 years	1,300 mg per day 1,000 mg per day
nursing mothers: 18 years or less 19 to 50 years	1,300 mg per day 1,000 mg per day

Deficiency Symptoms

Retarded growth and deformed or brittle bones in children, dental caries, osteoporosis in adults..

Good Sources

All dairy products except butter; dried peas and beans; most dark leafy greens (beet and turnip tops, kale and collards but not spinach or Swiss chard); the soft bones of canned fish.

Precautions: A high PROTEIN diet can accelerate calcium loss, as can too much SODIUM or CAFFEINE, postmenopausal hormone changes, lack of exercise and certain steroids. Fiber interferes with the absorption of calcium (particularly bean, nut, wheat BRAN or seed fiber). And OXALIC ACID, present in spinach, Swiss chard, rhubarb, almonds and chocolate, combines with calcium to form calcium oxalate, a chemical SALT the body can't use. On the other hand, too much calcium blocks the absorption of IRON and ZINC.

Precautions

Being water soluble, thiamin tends to leach out in the cooking water. It is also destroyed by heat. Indeed, as much as 30 percent of the thiamin can be lost as a loaf of bread bakes and another 10 to 30 percent as a slice of it toasts. Alcohol impairs the body's ability to absorb thiamin, as does tea, if drunk in prodigious quantities.

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