Introduction
Calcium is an important nutrient that is vital for strong bone health as well as some bodily functionsn like maintaining your heart beat and controlling your blood pressure. Sometimes a person may not be getting enough of the required amount of calcium every day. Throughout all of your life calcium is put in your bones and taken out. When your diet consists of too low calcium than your body goes on to remove calcium from your bones that it needs. If too much calcium is removed from your bones this will result in frail weakened bones which could cause fractures and bones breaking.
If you are not getting enough calcium in your diet there is something you can do about it. You can eat more foods that are rich in calcium and/or complement your diet with the use of calcium supplements.
You can find many foods that are a good source of calcium for you to take. Milk, yogurt and cheese are some examples, orange juice fortified with calcium, tofu, salmon, sardines, cottage cheese, frozen yogurt, kale, turnips, ready to eat cereal that is calcium fortified, broccoli, Chinese cabbage and sour cream.
The recommended guidelines for taking calcium supplements vary depending on your age and gender. For babies up to 6 months should be receiving 200 mg, 7 to 12 months 260 mg, 1 to 3 years 700 mg, 4 to 8 years 1,000 mg, 9 to 13 1,300 mg, 14 to 18 1,400 mg, 19 to 50 1,000 mg, 51 to 70 1,000 for male and for female 1,200, 71 + 1,200 mg.
Taking calcium supplements will give you many health benefits. Calcium is good for the management of weight, good for kidney stones, colorectal cancer, high blood pressure and is beneficial for bone health to prevent bone loss and osteroporosis. Calcium supplements have been known to help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of hypertension. In the Nurses' Health Study and the Physicians' Health Study it was found that participants who had took between 700 to 800 mg calcium every day had a lower chance between 40 to 50% of getting left side colon cancer.
Tips and Comments
You should be forewarned that taking calcium supplements does have some risks. There is a finding that is suggested by the British Medical Journal that a woman's risk of heart attack and stroke is increased by up to 20%. Calcium supplements may lead to some people experiencing constipation, gas and bloating so it is important to make sure your diet has adequate fiber intake.
When choosing calcium supplements choose brand that are well known and look on the label. Some supplements are prepared from bone meal, dolomite or unrefined oyster shell which could contain to toxic metals or lead. To be sure your supplement does not contain these check the label for "purified" or that has the USP (United States Pharmacopeia) symbol on the bottle. What the USP label means is that the product has gone through testing to make sure it is high quality and purity.
When taking calcium supplements it really doesn't matter what time of the day to take it. You can take it any time throughout the day. Certain medications may have a bad interaction with calcium supplements so it is important to consult with your doctor. Some prescriptions including antibiotics, high blood pressure medicine and bisphosphates could interfere with your supplements.
