subject: Calcium And Its Importance [print this page] Calcium is essential for building and maintaining bone. Calcium combines with other minerals, particularly Phosphorus and to a minor extent Magnesium to form the hard crystals that offer bone its power. Roughly 99% of the bodies Calcium is found within the bones. The remaining 1% of Calcium is dissolved in blood and other fluids and is essential for maintaining healthy functioning of the heart, muscles, blood and nerves.
When our diet is scarce in Calcium and we are not getting sufficient quantities in your diet, a few of the calcium crystals in bone dissolve and provide their calcium back to the bloodstream to maintain healthy performance of the heart, muscles, nerves and other organs. Bones thus act sort of a calcium pool, preserving calcium and channelizing it into the blood stream when needed. So if your calcium consumption is just too minimal and there are more withdrawals than deposits from your calcium bone reservoir, you endanger losing bone strength.
Calcium consumption is very important and the way well the calcium is absorbed into the blood stream can be significant.
Calcium absorption may be reduced by too much caffeine and alcohol, soft drinks containing phosphates and diets high in animal proteins. Some forms of Calcium are absorbed in the body better than others. Moreover, calcium is regularly lost from the body each day through skin and nails, sweat, and urine.
Peak bone mass (maximum bone density) is reached before the age of thirty and most of this is often achieved by puberty when there is the greatest rate of bone growth.
The higher your peak bone mass, the more likely it's that you may preserve better bone health even through times of rapid bone loss as you get older like menopause. This is why calcium is so significant for children and teenagers.
Your daily calcium requirements depend on your age and sex.
In adults, dietary calcium is important so as to take care of bone strength. Also, as we grow old calcium is absorbed less effectively from the intestine, so that intake needs to be increased. When the body can not replace calcium fast enough to keep the bones strong, they become thinner and weaker, ensuing in osteoporosis.
An important point to keep in mind is that less than half of all Australian adults get their daily recommended consumption of calcium.
