If you don’t want your bones to become more and more brittle, you must eat less of these foods!

This article was reviewed by: Xie Xinhui, Jixi Jikuang Hospital, Chief Physician, Bone and Joint and Sports Injury

In daily life, there are two types of food that can damage bones. If we don’t want our bones to become brittle, we must try to eat less of them.

1. Pickles

Many families like to eat steamed buns with pickles. Pickles contain a lot of salt. When the sodium ions in our body exceed the standard, they will carry calcium ions out of the body.

Eating pickles frequently will lead to the loss of calcium in the body. Over time, it will threaten bone health. Therefore, for the sake of bone health, try to eat less pickles.

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2. Fatty meat

Fatty meat contains a lot of protein and fat. If you consume too much, it may cause excessive calories and increased cholesterol content, which will lead to obesity. Obesity will put pressure on various organs of the body and also affect bones.

In addition, the digestion and absorption of fat requires the liver to secrete a large amount of bile. If the body secretes too much bile, the digestive system will be damaged, which will also affect the body's absorption of calcium, which is also not conducive to bone health.

If bone density continues to decrease, over time it will lead to weakened bone strength, increased brittleness, and in severe cases, fractures may occur.

In the early stages of osteoporosis, the symptoms are generally general weakness or back pain. If not effectively controlled, it will cause serious harm to the body in the later stages.

For the elderly, to prevent osteoporosis, the first thing to do is to insist on outdoor sports and get more sun exposure. In terms of diet, you can eat more calcium-rich foods such as cabbage, radish, and soy products. In addition, you should have regular physical examinations to help detect the disease earlier.

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Different groups of people have different focuses on calcium supplementation. Experts call for: Do not use one bottle of calcium to supplement the whole family!

Different groups of people should choose different calcium supplements!

When choosing calcium supplements, people should not be tempted to save trouble and let the whole family take the same calcium supplement.

The dosage form, dosage and process of calcium supplement products will be different for different ages and reasons for calcium supplementation. The appropriate calcium supplement should be selected in a targeted manner according to the physiological characteristics of the population.

So, how should different groups of people supplement calcium? What should they pay attention to?

01

Infants and young children: preferably add vitamin D,

Light-tasting, easy-to-take calcium preparation

Jiang Yi, chief physician of the Department of Neonatology at Peking University First Hospital, said that the neonatal period is the fastest growth and development stage in a person's life. Newborns have a relatively higher demand for calcium and need to take in enough calcium to meet the needs of rapid bone growth. Calcium deficiency is prone to occur when feeding with only breast milk or ordinary infant formula, and additional calcium supplementation is needed.

Experts say that when choosing calcium for infants and young children, we should consider the calcium ingredients, light taste and ease of feeding. Calcium preparations with added vitamin D are preferred, which are beneficial to the healthy growth of calcium bones and do not contain additives. Infants mainly eat milk and are more likely to accept calcium supplements with milk flavor. Therefore, it is best to choose calcium supplements with light milk flavor, so that babies are not easily rejected and can have better compliance.

Babies have not yet grown teeth and cannot chew hard food, so it is best to take powdered or granular food with good solubility, which can be easily mixed into a water solution by parents to feed their children.

Babies should choose calcium supplements suitable for babies and should not take adult calcium supplements.

02

Children: It is best to choose sugar-free calcium supplements.

Preventing tooth decay

Yu Xiaodan, chief physician of the pediatrics department at Shanghai Children's Medical Center, introduced that adequate calcium supplementation is beneficial to the growth and development of children's bones, avoiding bone changes and deformities caused by calcium deficiency, and can also prevent or delay the occurrence of osteoporosis in adulthood.

So, what should children pay attention to when choosing calcium supplements? Ding Yanhua, chief physician of the Child Health Department of the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, said that when children choose calcium, they should focus on the dosage form, taste and ingredients. You can choose chewable tablets, let them chew and eat by themselves, and exercise their chewing function. The younger the age, the more picky they are about the taste, so a good calcium supplement must be suitable for the child's taste, so that the child is willing to eat it and the parents can feed it. It is not recommended that calcium supplements contain too much sugar, and it is best to have sugar-free ingredients to avoid increasing the risk of children suffering from dental caries. The vitamin D contained in some calcium supplements can promote calcium absorption and enhance the effect of calcium supplementation.

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Then, there is another point that parents are most concerned about: can children take adult calcium? Many experts have said that children are not miniature adults and cannot take adult calcium supplements. Children need to use calcium supplements specifically for children!

Zhang Feng, chief physician of the Children's Health Center of Beijing Children's Hospital, emphasized that, generally speaking, the calcium content in adult calcium supplements is generally high, the dosage form is relatively single, usually tablets, and the taste is less considered. Therefore, adult calcium cannot be blindly applied to children, especially younger children.

03

Pregnant women: calcium supplements containing sorbitol,

Helps relieve constipation

How do pregnant women and lactating women’s calcium needs differ from those of other groups? Li Ruiman, chief physician of the Department of Obstetrics at the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, pointed out that pregnant women need to provide a large amount of calcium to the fetus during pregnancy. The Chinese Nutrition Society recommends that pregnant women take 1,000 mg of calcium per day starting at 16 weeks of pregnancy. If there is no additional calcium supplementation during pregnancy, the fetus will "selfishly" snatch the calcium from the pregnant woman, affecting the health of the pregnant mother and the baby.

Some pregnant women may suffer from constipation during pregnancy due to many reasons, such as: too fine food, little water intake, little exercise, bad bowel habits, etc. In this regard, Chen Qian, chief physician of obstetrics and gynecology at Peking University First Hospital, said that pregnant women can choose calcium supplements containing sorbitol to help relieve constipation. In addition, choosing chewable calcium supplements with good taste will also improve the feasibility of calcium supplementation for pregnant women.

04

Middle-aged and elderly people: choose to add vitamin D and K

Calcium to prevent osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a bone disease associated with aging. Li Ye, deputy chief physician of the Department of Orthopedics at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, pointed out that the prevalence of osteoporosis among people over 60 years old in my country has increased significantly, and osteoporosis has increasingly become an important public health issue facing my country.

Experts say that in addition to the decline in hormone levels caused by age, insufficient intake of calcium and vitamin D also affects bone metabolism to a certain extent. An appropriate amount of calcium combined with active vitamin D3 and vitamin K2 can effectively supplement calcium and prevent bone loss. It can also improve muscle balance, reduce the risk of falls, and reduce the incidence of fractures.

Pay attention to these points when supplementing calcium!

The Chinese Nutrition Society recommends the following daily calcium intake for Chinese residents: 800 mg/day for adults; 1000-1200 mg/day for adolescents; 1000 mg/day for pregnant and lactating women and middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old.

However, many Chinese people do not get the recommended calcium intake. Sun Ruifang, attending physician of the Clinical Nutrition Department of Shenzhen Union Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, pointed out that my country's dietary structure is mainly plant-based (such as rice and pasta), and there is no habit of drinking milk, which leads to a greater need for calcium supplementation.

Li Ning, a nutritionist at the Department of Nutrition at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, recommends that sensitive groups (adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, and middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old, especially women who have reached menopause) can use calcium supplements appropriately if they cannot ensure that they consume 500 ml or more of milk or equivalent amounts of dairy products in their daily diet.

When different groups of people choose exclusive calcium supplements, the following three points should be remembered:

1. Pay attention to small amounts and multiple times

Taking a high amount of calcium at one time is not well absorbed. It is best to take small amounts of calcium multiple times to increase the absorption rate of calcium.

2. Calcium supplementation is more effective after dinner

Generally speaking, taking calcium supplements after dinner is the best time for the human body to supplement calcium. According to the normal regulation of hormone secretion, the human body has the highest calcium absorption rate between 12 o'clock in the evening and early morning.

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3. Beware of overdose

Calcium supplements can quickly replenish calcium, but taking too much may cause side effects of excessive intake. Therefore, you should choose the right amount of calcium according to your actual situation.

Finally, the appeal is: a reasonable and balanced diet is the basis for ensuring calcium nutrition. People who cannot get enough calcium from food, such as infants, pregnant women and the elderly, should choose appropriate calcium supplements according to their own physiological characteristics.

Experts recommend that one should not use one bottle of calcium to supplement the whole family. Instead, calcium supplementation should be divided into different groups of people and special calcium tablets should be selected to supplement calcium scientifically.

Remember: you can’t use one bottle of calcium to supplement your whole family!

Source: Health Times

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