Bone Health

Bones play many roles in the body — providing structure, protecting organs, anchoring muscles and storing calcium. While it's important to build strong and healthy bones during childhood and adolescence, you can take steps during adulthood to protect bone health, too [116].  Maintaining healthy levels of calcium, vitamin D are both key to maintaining healthy bones.

 

Calcium

Bone health and osteoporosis - When calcium intake is low or ingested calcium is poorly absorbed, bone breakdown occurs as the body uses its stored calcium to maintain normal biological functions. Bone loss also occurs as part of the normal aging process, particularly in postmenopausal women due to decreased amounts of estrogen. Many factors increase the risk of developing osteoporosis, including being female, thin, inactive, or of advanced age; smoking cigarettes; drinking excessive amounts of alcohol; and having a family history of osteoporosis [106].

Blood pressure and hypertension - Several clinical trials have demonstrated a relationship between increased calcium intakes and both lower blood pressure and risk of hypertension [98-100]. In hypertensive subjects, calcium supplementation appears to lower systolic blood pressure by 2–4 mmHg, whereas calcium appears to have no significant effect on blood pressure where it is already in the normal range [106].

Preeclampsia - Preeclampsia is a serious medical condition in which a pregnant woman develops hypertension and proteinuria, usually after 20 weeks’ gestation. It is a leading cause of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, affecting about 5–8% of pregnancies in the United States and up to 14% of pregnancies worldwide.  Studies suggest that calcium supplementation during pregnancy reduces the risk of preeclampsia [106].

Weight management - Several studies have linked higher calcium intakes to lower body weight or less weight gain over time.  Two explanations have been proposed. First, high calcium intakes might reduce calcium concentrations in fat cells by decreasing the production of parathyroid hormone and the active form of vitamin D. Decreased intracellular calcium concentrations in turn increase fat breakdown and discourage fat accumulation in these cells. Secondly, calcium from food or supplements might bind to small amounts of dietary fat in the digestive tract and prevent its absorption. Dairy products, in particular, might contain additional components that have even greater effects on body weight than their calcium content alone would suggest [106].

Health Risks from Excessive Calcium - Excessively high levels of calcium in the blood known as hypercalcemia can cause renal insufficiency, vascular and soft tissue calcification, hypercalciuria (high levels of calcium in the urine) and kidney stones [106].

 

Reference Ranges for Calcium:

                                                                                                       Optimal              Risk

US Conventional Units                     mmol/L or mEq/L                 2.2-2.6       <2.2 or >2.6

Standard International Units          mmol/L or mEq/L                 2.2-2.6       <2.2 or >2.6