Can calcium supplementation be used to treat calcium deficiency? The calcium tablets you swallow may not have entered your bones!

Author: Qu Tiebing, Chief Physician, Beijing Boai Hospital, China Rehabilitation Research Center

Deputy Director of the Joint Surgery Group of the Orthopedics Branch of the Chinese Medical Association

Reviewer: Zhao Yu, Chief Physician, Peking Union Medical College Hospital

From birth to adulthood, the process of growth continues, the bones and muscles need to grow. After reaching adulthood, the bones and muscles no longer develop.

Children need a lot of nutrients in the process of growing up, and one of the most important nutrients is calcium.

After we stop growing, calcium is mainly used in metabolism. The human body no longer needs so much calcium. To achieve a dynamic balance, about 800 mg of calcium is needed every day, and this is about the same amount of calcium excreted every day.

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Children and pregnant women have relatively high calcium requirements, which are 1-2 times that of ordinary people. The amount of calcium required by the elderly is similar to that of middle-aged and young people.

By the age of 40, calcium in the bones begins to be lost gradually into the blood serum, and the amount of calcium lost increases with age.

More than 90% of bones are composed of calcium. The loss of calcium can easily lead to osteoporosis. This is why the elderly are prone to calcium deficiency and osteoporosis.

When we talk about calcium deficiency, we are not talking about blood calcium for metabolism, but calcium in the bones. Bone calcium is lost to the serum, and the blood calcium of osteoporosis patients is high.

If you are calcium deficient, you need to supplement calcium. How can the calcium you eat be replenished to your bones?

1. How can the calcium we eat be replenished to the bones?

The calcium supplemented does not enter the bones directly.

Calcium is in a synthetic state in nature, such as calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, etc. What we eat is synthetic calcium, and calcium carbonate is decomposed into carbonate ions and calcium ions. What we absorb is ionized calcium, which moves in the serum and then enters the place where calcium is needed.

After calcium ions enter the bones, they need to be resynthesized to become synthetic calcium, so calcium exists in the bones in the form of calcium carbonate.

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Part of the calcium in the serum will enter the bones, part of it will participate in the human body's metabolism, part of it will be metabolized and then excreted from the body, so the human body must continuously take in calcium to meet the body's needs.

Calcium supplementation is to prevent calcium in bones from being lost into serum, and to transfer calcium in serum to bones to lower blood calcium. One is blocking, the other is dredging.

To supplement calcium, first of all, you need to eat and take in calcium; second, after eating, the gastrointestinal tract breaks down the calcium, absorbs the calcium ions into the blood, and the calcium that cannot be absorbed will be excreted from the body; third, the calcium ions in the serum must be transferred to the bones.

Many people do not pay attention to the third link, which is the most important. The transfer of calcium ions from serum to bones is the most important process, and this process requires a lot of help.

People often say, "If you take calcium supplements without magnesium, you will regret it." Magnesium deficiency affects calcium absorption; calcium and phosphorus are also a pair of good friends. Simply supplementing calcium without phosphorus will also affect calcium absorption.

Another very important substance is vitamin D. Vitamin D can help the transfer and absorption of calcium ions and transfer calcium ions to bones.

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So, how do you get vitamin D?

One is sunbathing. When sunlight shines on human skin, the skin will synthesize vitamin D. If you don't have time to sunbathe and have fewer opportunities to be exposed to sunlight, you can take additional vitamin D preparations.

Many people ask, I have been taking calcium supplements, why am I still calcium deficient and have osteoporosis?

In one case, the method of calcium supplementation may be incorrect, with people thinking that they can just supplement what they lack, without promoting calcium transfer. The calcium they eat must enter the bones to be effective.

The second situation is that people with certain diseases, such as gastrointestinal diseases, peptic ulcers, and metabolic diseases, can cause calcium absorption disorders, calcium synthesis disorders, and calcium loss greater than absorption, which also cannot be supplemented. Patients with severe osteoporosis need a lot of calcium supplements to make up for it, which is also a reason why calcium deficiency persists even after supplementing calcium.

2. What are the dangers of incorrect calcium supplementation?

Osteoporosis patients have a state of "hypercalcemia" because the synthetic calcium in the bones is decomposed into ionized calcium that enters the blood circulation, causing an increase in blood calcium. At this time, if calcium is simply supplemented, the calcium ions decomposed by the gastrointestinal tract will also enter the blood circulation, which will increase a series of disadvantages caused by hypercalcemia.

Therefore, improper calcium supplementation is tantamount to suicide.

If the blood calcium level is too high, it will turn into synthetic calcium and deposit on the blood vessel wall, which will cause calcification of the blood vessel wall. The cardiovascular blockage will lead to atherosclerotic heart disease, also known as coronary heart disease; the cerebral blood vessels will be blocked, that is, cerebral thrombosis will form, leading to cerebral infarction. This is the harm of high blood calcium.

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When taking a blood test to check for high blood calcium, the first thing to do is to lower the blood calcium so that the blood calcium can enter the bones. If you only supplement calcium without promoting calcium transfer, the calcium in the serum will become higher and higher, and calcium supplementation will lose its meaning and may even cause harm.

Therefore, improper calcium supplementation or excessive calcium supplementation is very harmful to the human body.