Why does our body need calcium?

Many people may have noticed that calcium supplementation has basically become a must-have for the elderly, pregnant women, children, and adolescents in their developmental period. Many people may know about calcium supplementation, but what is the specific role of calcium in the human body and why do we need to supplement calcium? I guess many people are not very clear about it. Today, let’s talk about the role of calcium in the human body and why we need to supplement calcium?

01. The role of calcium

Calcium is mainly found in bones in the human body and is used to maintain the basic physiological functions of bones. However, if calcium only has this function, it would be underestimated. In fact, calcium itself is also involved in other physiological and biochemical processes. For example, calcium ions themselves are components of many enzymes. Calcium ions are also one of the basic components of important proteins in the human signaling pathway. In addition, calcium is also involved in the maintenance of nerve, muscle and other activities.

These physiological activities will cause huge problems to the body if they lack calcium. Therefore, the body will give priority to maintaining the calcium needs of these tissues.

So, the problem arises. If calcium intake is insufficient, then our body will prioritize the calcium required for these basic body functions, so it will break down calcium from bone tissue to supplement these priority needs, resulting in bone calcium deficiency.

02. Why do people suffer from calcium deficiency?

Some people may ask, isn't calcium abundant in our daily food? How can we be calcium deficient? In fact, the truth may surprise you, that is, the calcium intake of Chinese people is quite insufficient.

According to the dietary guidelines for residents, the daily calcium intake of a normal person should be around 800 mg. However, in reality, most people don't think of this standard.

For example, researchers conducted a survey on the daily calcium intake of people in nine provinces in China. The study used the total calcium content of daily food. This study was conducted from 1991 to 2009 and can be said to be quite representative [1]. The results were quite surprising. Over the years, whether in cities, suburbs, towns or rural areas, and whether men or women, the calcium intake of residents was generally insufficient.

Compared with adult men, women's calcium intake is even lower, mostly at 400 mg or less, which is only about half of the recommended adequate intake (AI). Overall, less than 7% of the population can reach the normal recommended calcium intake, and even more than half of the population, their calcium intake is less than half of the recommended amount.

This situation is also closely related to our eating habits.

The survey shows that the habits of the surveyed population have not changed much in the past 20 years. They mainly consume vegetables, beans and grains, while milk, eggs, fish, shrimp, meat and potatoes with high calcium content basically account for less than 5%. These factors have jointly led to our overall insufficient calcium intake.

Dietary habits often have a certain inertia and are difficult to change, which means that for most Chinese people, calcium intake is insufficient.

For middle-aged and elderly people, the situation is even more serious.

03. Why do middle-aged and elderly people need calcium supplementation more?

Middle-aged and elderly people often face decreased digestive ability and decreased food intake, which leads to insufficient overall calcium intake.

However, the calcium we need to maintain daily physiological activities does not decrease. As a result, for middle-aged and elderly people, when there is insufficient calcium in the body, they begin to break down calcium from the bones to make up for the lack of calcium. In the long run, this will lead to a series of problems, a typical example of which is osteoporosis. That is, with the gradual loss of calcium, the bone density and bone quality in the bones decrease, leading to damage to the bone microstructure.

Osteoporosis will have obvious physical manifestations.

1. Pain. For patients with osteoporosis, they may experience back pain or whole body bone pain, especially when the amount of activity increases, and it may also be accompanied by cramps and other limited activities.

2. Spinal deformity. As osteoporosis worsens, the spinal bones will also show corresponding symptoms, such as shorter height, hunchback and other spinal deformities, which may squeeze the internal organs in severe cases.

3. Fractures. Due to the destruction of bone microstructure, the bone becomes more brittle and is prone to fractures when subjected to external forces in daily life.

These situations not only affect the physical health of middle-aged and elderly people, but also their mental health, causing anxiety, fear and depression, thus seriously affecting their mental state and quality of life.

Because of this, calcium supplementation is a must for middle-aged and elderly people, especially those in our country.

04. How do middle-aged and elderly people supplement calcium?

Of course, there are also some requirements for calcium supplementation for the middle-aged and elderly people in my country. According to the research mentioned above, quite a number of people consume less than 400 mg of calcium per day, which is at least 400 mg less than the recommended intake of 800 mg. Therefore, the amount of calcium supplementation should not be less than 500 mg.

In addition, vitamin D3 is needed to assist calcium absorption. The vitamin D we generally refer to is mainly vitamin D3, which is an ingredient that can promote calcium absorption and is very critical for calcium absorption.

For middle-aged and elderly people, due to the decline of their body functions and the decrease in food intake, calcium intake is even lower. In this case, calcium supplementation is more necessary. According to the Chinese Dietary Nutrition Guidelines, middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old should consume 1000 mg of calcium per day.

Calcium supplementation is not only a basic need for middle-aged and elderly people, but also for Chinese people, due to the serious lack of daily calcium intake, calcium supplementation is even more necessary. Therefore, we should do a good job of calcium supplementation on a daily basis to avoid the health risks caused by calcium deficiency. When choosing calcium tablets, it is also recommended to read more and learn more, and choose products and brands that are more suitable for the Chinese physique and have been researched for the Chinese physique.

[1] Liu Aidong, Zhang Bing, Wang Huijun, Du Wenwen, Su Chang, Zhai Fengying. Dietary nutrient intake and changing trends in nine provinces and autonomous regions of China from 1991 to 2009 (VI) Dietary calcium intake and changing trends of adults aged 18 to 49 years [J]. Acta Nutrimenta Sinica, 2012, 34(01): 10-14. DOI: 10.13325/j.cnki.acta.nutr.sin.2012.01.008.