Optimal Calcium Intake

Calcium is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the human body. Calcium plays an important role in building stronger bones early in life and keeping them strong later in life. People typically lose bone as they age, despite consuming the recommended intake of calcium necessary to maintain optimal bone health. Teenagers, young women and post-menopausal women in particular are most often consuming far less than calcium than their body needs. Calcium is also used in muscle contraction, blood clotting, and the maintenance of cell membranes.

Dietary sources are the best way to attain optimal calcium intake. Calcium requirements depend in part upon whether the body is growing or making new bone or milk. Diets high in sodium increase calcium losses in the urine.

Many foods contain calcium, but dairy products are the most significant source. Foods and beverages high in calcium include milk and other dairy products. If drinking 3-1/3 cups of milk a day does not appeal to you, can get calcium from a range of other dairy and nondairy sources. Other dairy products such as yogurt, most cheeses, and buttermilk are excellent sources of calcium and are available in low-fat or fat-free versions.

There are many foods, besides dairy products, that contain calcium. Dark green leafy vegetables also contain calcium, but it is not as readily absorbed as calcium from dairy sources. Dairy products are high in calcium, while certain green vegetables and other foods contain calcium in smaller amounts. Other sources of calcium are salmon and sardines canned with their soft bones.

To attain optimal calcium intake you can get it from calcium supplements. A great variety of calcium supplements can be found in your health food store. These supplements can range from a simple calcium carbonate to bone meal, dicalcium phosphate, dolomite, calcium lactate, calcium gluconate, and many others. Although they all contain calcium, they vary in the amount of actual calcium content from 40% in calcium carbonate to 9% in calcium gluconate. Calcium carbonate has the highest percentage calcium per gram, but it acts as an antacid which makes this supplement somewhat useless since calcium can only be absorbed in an acid environment.

Calcium carbonate that is derived from oyster shells is no different from any other form. However, oyster shells carry an additional risk of being contaminated with naturally occurring heavy metals found in the oyster bed environment. Calcium phosphate is probably the best source of calcium, since the principle calcium in the body is actually calcium hydrogen phosphate which is easy to digest.

With poor diets and lack of exercise, calcium supplementation is a must for most people. Have you had your calcium today?

Are taking calcium and vitamin D supplements really reduce breast cancer risk? It is a question that most of women wondering to know. Here is a press release that will answer your question.

Please enjoy reading!  :)

ScienceDaily.com — Taking calcium and vitamin D supplements does not reduce breast cancer incidence in postmenopausal women, according to data from a randomized, doubled-blind, placebo-controlled trial published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Several observational and preclinical studies have suggested that vitamin D supplements may reduce breast cancer risk, but results have been inconsistent.

To test this possibility, researchers evaluated breast cancer incidence as a secondary endpoint in the Women’s Health Initiative study in 36,282 postmenopausal women who were randomly assigned to take 1,000 mg of calcium plus 400 IU of vitamin D daily or to daily placebo. (The primary endpoint of the study was effect of the supplements on hip fracture.) Baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were determined in all 1,067 breast cancer cases and 1,067 matched control subjects.

In the current analysis, Rowan Chlebowski, M.D., Ph.D., of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-University of California Los Angeles Medical Center and colleagues found that the incidence of invasive breast cancer was similar in the supplement and placebo groups, with 528 and 546 cases, respectively. Additionally, 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were only modestly associated with dietary and supplement vitamin D intake and were not associated with breast cancer risk in a nested case-control analysis.

These findings call into question recommendations for evaluation of higher vitamin D dosage in future studies, according to the authors. Furthermore, as 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were strongly associated with leanness and high physical activity, which both influence breast cancer risk, prior observational studies relating vitamin D levels to breast cancer risk may have been influenced by these factors. “The main findings do not support a causal relationship between calcium and vitamin D supplement use and reduced breast cancer incidence” the authors conclude.

In an accompanying editorial, Corey Speers and Powel Brown, M.D., Ph.D., of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston applaud the authors’ efforts to test the question in such a rigorous manner. Although the editorialists agree that these data do not support an association between calcium and vitamin D supplementation and breast cancer incidence, they argue that further investigation is still needed to adequately answer the question, including looking for genetic influences on vitamin D serum levels, testing supplements in premenopausal women, and following study participants for a longer follow-up period.

“Because preclinical, epidemiological, and clinical trial results of vitamin D supplementation are conflicting, additional studies will be needed to determine whether vitamin D plus calcium will pre¬vent breast cancer. However, this article by Chlebowski [and colleagues] offers an important first step in addressing this issue,” the editorialists write. “The potential health benefits of vitamin D and calcium may yet still have a bright future.”