Best Sources Of Calcium
Best Calcium Sources
By Gabor Timis
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body, and the recommended intake is 1,000 mg a day for adults, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
99% of the body’s calcium is stored in bones and teeth for structural support. It is essential for growth in children, and helps provide efficient muscle contraction (including the heart) and blood clotting.
Our body cannot make calcium so we must get it from the foods we eat.
When there is deficiency of calcium from food, the body will take the calcium from our bones to meet its needs.
In aging adults, particularly among postmenopausal women, bone breakdown exceeds formation, resulting in bone loss that increases the risk of osteoporosis over time.
The best way to get adequate calcium is food, preferably organic food.
Some very good sources of calcium:
Soap Nuts
Very good!
Ok… but you left a bunch of important stuff out! We don’t ‘make’ calcium, but through diet & physical activity we determine whether it exists in our bones or in our bloodstream (for eventual excretion, in urine). Bone is metabolically active, like muscle: you can’t get buffed up by just popping protein pills, & you can’t get strong bones from just eating calcium. Weightbearing/ resistive exercise builds bone mass, and inactivity reduces it. That’s why astronauts (who have very well-managed nutritious diets) experience bone loss during gravity-free time in space. Also, the standard American (animal-product based) diet is about 16-18% protein, compared to the 10-12% that humans need. High protein diets change blood Ph in such a way as to make you pee out calcium, putting you at risk for osteoporosis later in life — that’s why countries with the highest consumption of dairy also have the highest incidence of osteoporosis!
Given the disinformation provided to folks so enthusiastically by the dairy industry’s marketing guys, I’d like to see more discussion of these factors when folks talk about causes and management of osteoporosis.
For further reading, check out:
http://www.pcrm.org/health/prevmed/osteoporosis.html
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/osteoporosis_dairy.shtml
What a great resource!