SupplySide

Elemental Calcium Facts

February 1, 2003 Lynn A. Kuntz Comments

Posted in Articles, Dairy, Fortification, Mineral, Nutrition, pH, Processing, Seasonings, Topics, Seasonings / Spices, Vitamins / Minerals

This silvery-white alkaline-earth element forms more than 3% of the earth’s crust. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 and a density of 1.55 g/cm3. Chemists might recognize this description of calcium, but it doesn’t give much insight into its importance in nutrition or explain the options for incorporating it into foods.

The good stuff
Calcium makes up about 1.5% to 2.0% of the human body, with about 98% in the bones, 1% in the teeth, and the rest in tissues and the circulatory system. It has become a popular fortification nutrient in foods and beverages — in everything from cereal and orange juice to soup and bread — because of its role in preventing osteoporosis, a disease that results in bone-mass loss that makes bones susceptible to fractures. We require it throughout life: first to build bones, then to maximize bone density, to maintain adult bone mass and, later in life, to minimize bone loss and prevent osteoporosis’s debilitating effects.

Calcium also plays an important part in the blood, nerves and muscles, particularly by regulating heart and muscle contraction, and nerve conduction. One study (“Calcium Supplements for the Prevention of Colorectal Adenomas,” J.A. Baron and others, The Calcium Polyp Prevention Study Group, New England Journal of Medicine, 1999) linked calcium supplementation “with a significant — though moderate — reduction in the risk of recurrent colorectal adenomas.” Other researchers propose deficient calcium affects premenstrual syndrome (“Micronutrients and the Premenstrual Syndrome: The Case for Calcium,” Susan Thys-Jacobs, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2000). And the Journal of the American College of Nutrition in 2002 (“Calcium and Weight: Clinical Studies” (Dr. Robert P. Heaney and others) reviewed several studies that linked lower calcium intake with weight gain, saying that the “data suggest that increasing calcium intake by the equivalent of two dairy servings per day could reduce the risk of overweight substantially, perhaps by as much as 70%.”

How much?
The National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., recommends that children ages 4 to 8 should consume 800 mg calcium/day, preteens and teens ages 9 to 18 need 1,300 mg, adults 19 to 50 need 1,000 mg, and those 51 and older require 1,200 mg. Calcium can be obtained from dairy products and other naturally calcium-rich foods in sufficient quantities to meet these daily requirements, but that just isn’t happening, hence the rising importance of calcium-fortified products.

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF), Washington, D.C., in 2002, more than 10 million people suffered from osteoporosis; this figure might climb to 12 million by 2010 if the trend continues. It’s estimated that about 75% of the U.S. population currently has calcium-deficient diets.

« Previous12 Next »