Your calcium intake as a young woman can make a huge difference later in life
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One of the most important age groups for the correct calcium intake in women is between 14 and 24 when peak bone mass is obtained. There is considerable concern amongst medical experts about the diets of teenage girls and young women.
They fear the future could bring an osteoporosis epidemic in women.
In young women, the bone continues to develop up until about age 35 to 40. Then whatever bone mass a woman has at that point will strongly determine how much at risk she may be for bone fractures in her later years.
Most people seem to know that we need calcium to strengthen our bones and our teeth and that this mineral is especially important for growth. Not everyone may know that calcium also ensures that everything runs smoothly with our muscles and nerves. Because it is such a vital mineral, you may be interested to read more about calcium.
Calcium is absorbed in our small intestine but to make this process successful, we also need Vitamin D. Our skeleton needs calcium to provide its rigid structure. Calcium becomes even more important in growing children, as their bones grow, and in the elderly, whose ability to absorb calcium becomes impaired with age. Medical studies reveal that one in three women and one in twelve men over the over the age of 50 suffer from osteoporosis. This is a painful and potentially crippling disease which is due to the loss of calcium in the bones. By the age of 50, up to 25% of the skeleton could be missing due to Osteoporosis, increasing the risk of bone fractures, loss of height and the formation of a hump.
Nobody wants to be missing out on life as they age. And as we live longer and longer, the importance of calcium becomes even more apparent.
We can look on it as part of our pension and insurance scheme for our old age!
Women are more at risk than men from too little calcium in their diet. Usually the two most deficient minerals in a woman’s diet are calcium and iron. It is estimated that only 25% of women in any age group consume the recommended daily amount of calcium to guard against osteoporosis. When they go on diets and weight loss programs, this consumption may be even lower. In addition to lack of calcium, 2 other factors are important in osteoporosis – hormonal deficiency (estrogen in particular) as well as lack of physical activity.
If you are pregnant, it is a good idea to increase calcium consumption during the last 3 months of pregnancy and the first few months of lactation to ensure that the baby gets sufficient amounts of calcium to help bone development and growth. The problem is that if the baby does not get enough calcium from its mother, this calcium will be withdrawn from the mother’s bones putting her at risk in later years as I have said before. Calcium supplements have also been shown to protect against pre-eclampsia (that is high blood pressure) in pregnancy.
It is recommended that a woman needs a daily intake of 1000 mg of calcium, rising to 1,500 mg after the menopause. In addition, vitamin D and magnesium should be taken with calcium to aid absorption – there are plenty of calcium supplements available which are easy to take and which include vitamin D and magnesium. Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids which are found in fish oil and evening primrose oil also increase the absorption of calcium. But also try to include calcium in your daily diet as well. Dairy products are a good source of calcium especially those from organic or raw milk product . The optimum source of vitamin D is sun exposure and if you can get some 30 minutes of such exposure several times a week during the summer months and take a good vitamin D3 supplement during the winter months, your health will benefit.
How to increase calcium intake in your daily diet
- Add milk instead of water to canned soups, as well as home made soups, stews and casseroles.
- Drink milk and eat cheese including cottage cheese.
- Add grated cheese to salads, tacos and pasta dishes.
- Eat yoghurt as a snack or to make salad dressings.
- Enjoy calcium-rich desserts such as cheese and fruit, frozen yoghurt as well as puddings made with milk.
- Drink plenty of milk shakes or smoothies made with milk and fruit.
- In winter, drink hot chocolate made with milk.
- Eat lots of dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli and watercress.
- Eat or use raw almonds or sesame seeds as toppings on salads, cereals or desserts.
- Snack on dried fruits such as apricots, dates and figs that all contain small amounts of calcium
- Add sardines, prawns or anchovies to your dishes.
To reach the threshold of 1500 mg without the use of supplements, you would need to eat a cup of yoghurt, 2 glasses of milk, 2 ounces of cheese and one third of a cup of broccoli every day. That would be quite an achievement.
So remember that calcium is a very important mineral in the diet especially with teenage and young women, women at menopausal age, pregnant women as well as growing children and the elderly. There is even evidence to suggest that calcium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and cut the chances of colon cancer.
Increasing that calcium intake at whatever age can only be a good thing for your general health.
