From childhood on into our thirties, we're building up our bone bank that we must live with into old
age. Which is sad for those who either didn't like milk, or didn't get to drink enough milk for bone building calcium. If you have children who don't like milk, or are unable to tolerate milk. If you don't feel you're drinking enough milk or getting a quality calcium to protect your bones. Please read on.
Osteoporosis (the loss of calcium from the bones) is the "silent epidemic" because of the lack of warning signs. You're youthful, and not thinking about your bones when you're in your 70s. It's usually not apparent until back pain, loose teeth, receding jaw-bones or a fractured hip demonstrates how emaciated and brittle our bones have become. You can be a strong and active person in your 70s, or a crippled up person with a cane in your 70s, this is all your choice.
Your blood calcium may appear normal in lab tests, but your bones may be dangerously low. Hair testing is another means for determining body mineral levels. But when it comes to calcium, it's no better than a blood test. Where the hair may show high levels of calcium, the bones may be severely lacking still. What about an x-ray of the bones? Doctors say that 40% of the calcium of the bones can be missing before it begins to show up in an x-ray. So if you can't detect it through an x-ray, a blood or hair analysis, nor how you're feeling, then what do you do?
NeoLife GNLD
Osteoporosis (the loss of calcium from the bones) is the "silent epidemic" because of the lack of warning signs. You're youthful, and not thinking about your bones when you're in your 70s. It's usually not apparent until back pain, loose teeth, receding jaw-bones or a fractured hip demonstrates how emaciated and brittle our bones have become. You can be a strong and active person in your 70s, or a crippled up person with a cane in your 70s, this is all your choice.
Your blood calcium may appear normal in lab tests, but your bones may be dangerously low. Hair testing is another means for determining body mineral levels. But when it comes to calcium, it's no better than a blood test. Where the hair may show high levels of calcium, the bones may be severely lacking still. What about an x-ray of the bones? Doctors say that 40% of the calcium of the bones can be missing before it begins to show up in an x-ray. So if you can't detect it through an x-ray, a blood or hair analysis, nor how you're feeling, then what do you do?
How the Bone Bank works -- Making withdrawls --
There are trade-offs between blood and bone that keep our calcium stores in plentiful supply and at the same time permit all the calcium needed in the blood. While bones are hard as rock and strong as steel, at the same time they are quite fluid. The calcium from which they are made is in a constant state of flux. It is continually being added to or reduced, according to our inner needs. If our blood calcium drops below certain levels, the parathyroid gland sends a hormone which prompts the dissolving of the ends of the bones to make calcium available to the blood. This is how our bodies make a withdrawl from our calcium bank. But we can't keep withdrawing without making deposits.
Making Deposits --
Deposits are made when a meal rich in calcium loads the blood with more calcium than it can use at one time. The body then starts looking for a way to store the excess calcium. Too much calcium in the blood signals the thyroid gland to release a hormone which stimulates the formation of new cells at the ends of the bones. This attracts calcium out of the blood and places it in the new bone cells, thereby decreasing the amount of calcium in the blood and building up the density of the bones. If we consistently have more deposits than withdrawls we have strong bones right into our old age.
Difficulties of Calcium Absorption
Part of the problem causing deteriorating bones lies in the fact that the average person tens NOT to absorb calcium very well -- perhaps no more than 10-20% of the amount consumed.
Bonding --
Calcium tends to bond itself to other things eaten in the same meal. A meal high in fats can form insoluble calcium soaps causing the calcium to pass through the system unabsorbed. Calcium may also combine with oxalates found in such foods as spinach, broccoli, and chocolate. Phytates found in grains and cereals do the same thing. If calcium bones to these things it cannot be used.
Certain essentials may be lacking --
Calcium absorption can also be inhibited by a lack of Vitamin D. Without its presence calcium cannot pass through the villi of the small intestine into the bloodstream. How many of us know that we always have the right amount of Vitamin D present at the right tie for calcium absorption?
Other minerals needed --
Calcium absorption also requires the presence of other minerals such as magnesium and phosphorus in a certain ratio. In addition, certain amino acids from protein must be there. Without all these and many other factors working in harmony, we waste a lot of the total calcium we take in. Is it any wonder then, that so many of us have a dwindling balance in our calcium bank?
Weak stomach acid --
Calcium absorption is hindered by weak stomach acid. WE can't prepare it for absorption and utilization without a good acid environment in the stomach. This presents a special problem for older people who tend to have a lower production of digestive acids.
Perhaps this is a good place to comment about the foolishness of using a product such as Tums as a dietary source of calcium, as is recommended by some doctors. It is an ANTacid, being a combination of calcium with an alkaline base which neutralizes stomach acid. This makes it impossible to absorb and utilize the calcium contained in the product. Tums will reduce the acid distress of the stomach, but in so doing it cancels out its value as a calcium supplement, because calcium must have an acid environment for absorption.
Aging Hinders Absorption
Many people feel that after middle age there is less need for calcium than when you were young. But the opposite is true. The difficulty of getting enough calcium to meet our needs increases with age. Since the bone bank is more difficult to replenish as we get older, we need to increase our intake of calcium. If it takes a minimum of 1,000 mg per day to supply our needs when we are young, we need even more in our 50s and beyond. The reason for so many twisted frames and broken bones in old age is insufficient calcium intake during all stages of our life. There is no time when we can relax this vigil without risking the body's structure.
Can bone loss be reversed?
A study done on thousands of people by a team of Doctors in New York, it was established that diet can control bone loss and even reverse it. In case after case, this rigorous 10-year study demonstrated that calcium supplementation can add new density and strength to aging bones, in effect making them stronger.
These immensely important findings are reported in the February 1975 issue of the New York State Journal of Medicine. The researchers -- Anthony Albanese, PhD; A Herbert Edelson DDS; Edward Lorenze Jr MD; Maurice Woodhul MD; Evelyn Wein BS -- examined the bone structure of more than 4,000+ subjects and treated hundreds with extra calcium before publicizing their results.
Commenting on this study, Prevention Magazine; September 1975 says, "Taken as a whole, we believe that this series of experiments... represents one of the most important nutritional studies ever conducted. Not only have they demonstrated that dietary calcium can completely reverse one of th most common accompaniments of aging, but they have done so in trials involving human beings, not laboratory animals. And they demonstrations have involved hundreds of patients under rigidly controlled conditions, and have been carried out over an entire decade -- an almost unheard-of-duration for a nutritional study."
As part of this study a group of women in their 70s and 80s who were suffering from osteoporosis, were given 750 mg of supplemental calcium daily and 375 units of Vitamin D. Their diet, up to that point, had furnished them with only about 450 mg of daily calcium. So during the study they were getting a combined average of about 1,200 mg of calcium per day. After 3 years of observation their bone density increased approximately 6%. The control group who were on a similar diet, but not receiving supplements, decreased in bone density approximately 6%. There were no undesirable side affects associated with prolonged calcium supplementation. Calcium levels in the blood and urine remained normal. There was no observed incidence of kidney stones or any other excess calcification problem, according to the authors.
The importance of adequate blood calcium
While only about 1% of our calcium is in the blood, the presence of this amount is absolutely essential. All muscular contractions, heartbeat, breathing, movement of any kind, nerve impulses, blood-clotting and other essential functions depend on the presence of this blood calcium. If we do not supply sufficient amounts through our diet and supplementation each day, the blood will eventually get what it needs at the expense of the bones. But the path is not smooth, and many undesirable hebglobins may appear to make life miserable.
From jangled nerves to PMS
Two weeks before menstruation the calcium level hits bottom. Generous calcium supplementation can make a big difference when these symptoms of nervousness and irritability complicate your life.
Muscle Cramps
If you wake up at night with muscle cramps, your body is saying "I'm not getting enough calcium to meet my needs." Charley horses after a workout, stiff neck, twitching eyes or other muscles, usual weakness and fatigue after exercise, skipped heart beats -- these are all ways of my body telling me, "I need more calcium -- and perhaps magnesium." Take your calcium supplement in the morning starting off your day to help with fatigue. Take another supplement at night, to help with muscle cramps. Adjust until you find what works for your body.
High Blood Pressure
In 1983 Dr David McCarron MD associate professor of medicine and chief of the Hypertension Program at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon, did studies on calcium and its relationship to high blood pressure. In one double-blind study he took 99 hypertensive people and divided them into three different groups. Some were given 1,000 mg of calcium, others were on blood pressure lowering medications, and the rest were on placebos. In that study, approximately 50% of the hypertensive subjects on calcium supplements lowered their blood pressure to normal by the end of eight weeks. From these studies as reported by Staff Writer Barbara Durbin in the January 25, 1984 The Oregonian, Dr McCarron concludes that excess sodium (salt) is not the cause of most high blood pressure, but the lack of calcium in the average diet.
How much calcium do we need?
We all need a daily intake of at least 1,000 mg of calcium. People in special categories need even more. Growing teenagers, nursing mothers, and men and women past forty need 1,500 mg. Leg aches are nature's way of saying, "This kid needs more calcium". Broken bones heal faster with increased calcium. The average American gets less than half of the daily needed amount. Since most calcium in our food supply comes from dairy products, people who turn away from them for whatever reason, greatly increase their chances of a weak bone structure in old age. For most of us, supplementation is absolutely mandatory.
What kind of calcium supplement is best?
Since there are so many calcium supplements on the market, the question is "what kind?" Several factors come into play to make a good calcium supplement
Solubility --
If it does not readily dissolve in the stomach it may pass right on through without doing us any good.
Purity--
We don't want lead or other harmful elements piggybacking into our bodies with our daily dose of calcium.
Chelation--
Is the process of coating calcium molecules with certain amino acids to make them more absorbable. Without chelation, only a small percentage of most calcium supplements are absorbed into the blood stream. Are you flushing your calcium and money?
Magnesium and Phosphorus Balance--
It is generally concluded that the best calcium supplement is two-thirds (2/3)calcium, and one third (1/3) magnesium, and low in phosphorus.
Vitamin D--
We cannot absorb calcium without the presence of Vitamin D. WE get vitamin D from the sun as it acts on the oils on our skin. If we work indoors or live in a northern climate where there is not much sun in the winter, supplemental Vitamin D may be needed.
NeoLife GNLD has a couple calcium supplement options. Neo-Cal is a non-chelated calcium of 250 mg. Cal-Mag is a premium chelated calcium, with absorption rate of near 100%. Both with Vitamin D, Magnesium.
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