Feel it in your bones
Calcium is a vital mineral for everyone. Calcium has many important roles in the human body – developing and strengthening bones, maintaining bone mass and strength, strengthening teeth and keeping them healthy, regulating nerve and muscle function, regulating heart function and assisting blood clotting.
Calcium requirements change throughout life. Young children, teenagers, pregnant women, breastfeeding women and elderly people need greater than average amounts of calcium.
Good sources of calcium include dairy foods, leafy green vegetables and dried beans. Australians get most of our daily calcium needs from dairy foods. This is handy because calcium from milk and milk products is more easily absorbed by the body and is present in greater amounts.
We hear a lot about osteoporosis and calcium deficiency. We see ads on TV about the importance of meeting daily calcium intake requirements, especially for growing children, but few people seem to take these seriously. According to the Australian Nutrition Survey about 90% of women and 70% of children do not meet the recommended daily intake (RDI) for calcium. That’s scary when you consider the crucial role calcium has in our physiological functioning and in developing and maintaining bones.
We don’t seem to encourage our children to eat enough dairy foods and in recent years there has been a high incidence of children becoming intolerant of these foods. Calcium deficiency reduces their chances of having the strongest bones possible.
One of the first things many people do when they are embarking on a fad diet is to restrict dairy foods or to cut them out altogether. This can have terrible consequences.
Calcium deficiency can lead to osteoporosis in both men and women later in life. Osteoporosis is a degenerative disease, characterised by bone loss. If your calcium intake is constantly lower than your RDI for calcium your bones will become weak and brittle, increasing the risk of bone fracture.
It is harder to get enough calcium if you completely avoid dairy products, but it can be done! Soy milk, which is a plant-based milk alternative, is fortified with as much calcium as dairy milk. Try Sanitarium So Good soymilk and soy yoghurt. Calcium is also found in smaller amounts in almonds, brazil nuts, sesame seeds, dried figs, dried apricots, soybeans, tofu, broccoli, spinach and Asian green vegetables, such as bok choy and Chinese cabbage. But the natural compounds found in most of these foods actually decrease calcium absorption. Fish with their bones, such as sardines and tinned salmon also contain calcium.
My suggestion is to eat a variety of foods that contain calcium: choose low-fat dairy products, or calcium-enriched alternatives. To increase your calcium intake, regularly include low-fat dairy milk or calcium enriched soymilk in your meals. Try low-fat yoghurt or soy yoghurt on your breakfast cereal; have low fat fruit smoothies as a snack; or add low-fat custard to fruit salad or summer berries for dessert. Try sardines on low-GI, high-fibre, wholegrain toast with low-fat cheese. Add salmon (plus bones) to a tomato-based pasta sauce or a summer salad with egg and parmesan cheese. Spread tahini (sesame seed paste) on crackers or bread.
Osteoporosis can be prevented through adequate calcium intake by making your bones as strong as possible and then limiting your bone loss as you get older. As well as healthy eating, regular physical activity contributes greatly to bone health, particularly weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening activities, such as lifting weights, walking, running or dancing.
Emma Weitnauer
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