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12 WAYS TO BOOST YOUR CALCIUM
Various factors affect how much of the calcium you ingest really
gets into your
blood. Here are facts you should know to make the most of the
calcium in your
diet or any calcium supplements you take:
1. Stress from tension and worry can decrease calcium absorption.
The calcium in
the diet is excreted rather than used.
2. Labels on calcium supplements can be misleading. The figure
that is important
is the amount of elemental calcium provided by the supplement.
This is the
actual amount of useable calcium. The rest of the calcium in the
tablet is
coupled with a salt that makes it unavailable to the body. For
example, calcium
glutamate is only 9 percent elemental calcium. A 500 milligram
tablet of calcium
glutamate may contain only 45 milligrams of elemental calcium,
even though you
may have been led to believe that you are taking 500 milligrams of
calcium.
Calcium carbonate, on the other hand, is 40 percent elemental
calcium; 500
milligrams of calcium carbonate would provide 200 milligrams of
useable calcium.
Labels on some supplements make this distinction, listing both the
type of
calcium compound in the supplement and the amount of elemental
calcium
provided. Other products are not as carefully labeled. Read labels
carefully and
compare several brands when you shop.
3. Calcium is best absorbed when taken in smaller amounts more
frequently and
with meals. For example, your body absorbs more calcium if you
take one 250
milligram tablet twice a day rather than one 500 milligram tablet
once a day. If a
higher dose calcium tablet is a better buy, break it in half.
4. Dairy products are a rich source of calcium, and lactose, the
sugar contained in
milk, facilitates calcium absorption. However, chocolate milk is
not a good source
of calcium. Because chocolate contains calcium-binding oxalates,
it can interfere
with calcium absorption.
5. Soft drinks that contain citric and phosphoric acid can
decrease the absorption
of calcium. A 12-ounce cola may rob the body of 100 milligrams of
calcium.
6. Vitamin C improves the absorption of calcium, which is why
calcium-fortified
orange juice makes sense.
7. High-fiber diets can interfere with calcium absorption, so best
not to mix a
high fiber meal with a high calcium one. If you do mix them, boost
your calcium
as you increase your fiber.
8. The calcium-to-phosphorus ratio of a food or supplement
determines how
much of the calcium is absorbed. The ideal calcium-phosphorus
ratio is 2 to 1,
close to the proportion found in human milk, which has an almost
perfect
calcium-to- phosphorus ratio of 2.3 to 1. The ratio in cow's milk
is 1.3 to 1. The
higher the phosphorus content of the food, the more calcium is
excreted in the
urine, leading to a loss of calcium. Foods high in phosphorus
(such as meat,
poultry, corn, potatoes, beer, buckwheat) can interfere with
calcium absorption.
9. The presence of estrogen facilitates calcium absorption, so
women after
menopause are at increased risk of calcium deficiency and
therefore need to
increase their daily intake of calcium.
10. You may read that vegans run the risk of calcium deficiency
because the
calcium in vegetables, like iron, is bound by the fibers and
phytates
(mineral-building chemicals in plants) in the vegetables and may
interfere with
calcium absorption. The theoretical worry may be balanced out by
the lower
phosphate content of vegetables, which improves calcium
absorption, and by the
fact that most people have the enzyme phytase, which breaks down
the phytic
acid in vegetables.
11. Couch-potatoism, or lack of exercise, may contribute as much,
or more, to
osteoporosis than lack of calcium. Weight-bearing exercise (just
about any
exercise except swimming or cycling) not only builds muscle, it
builds bone.
12. Ignore what you read about losing bone mass while
breastfeeding . After
weaning, breastfeeding mothers regain the bone mass they may have
lost. Some
even get a perk by regaining more.
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