How Calcium is Beneficial for Health
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By :
peter hutch
Submitted
2008-05-27 00:00:00 |
Calcium is a mineral found in many foods. Getting enough of this nutrient is important because the human body cannot make it. Even after you are fully-grown, adequate calcium intake is important because the body loses calcium every day through the skin, nails, hair, and sweat, as well as through urine and feces. This lost calcium must be replaced daily through the diet. Otherwise, the body takes calcium out of the bones to perform other functions, making the bones weaker, more fragile and breakable over time.
Calcium like sodium and potassium contribute to both extracellular and intracellular cell environment. Calcium is also needed as intercellular cement to keep the cells of the body together. It also controls fluid to allow enzyme reaction to take place. Calcium is vital for the contraction of muscle. The brain sends nerve impulses that release calcium in the muscle which triggers muscle reactions. Calcium also helps to control cholesterol.
The consumption of calcium helps in facilitating the movement of nutrients across cell membranes. By keeping the bones healthy, calcium paves way for prevention of osteoporosis. Calcium intake helps in relieving backache by strengthening your backbone.
Calcium helps to keep a check on the blood pressure and also it aids in muscle contraction, thereby enabling the heart and blood vessels to perform their functioning effectively. The best sources for calcium intake are low fat dairy products, fruits and vegetables. So, make it a point to drink milk regularly and also consume other calcium rich foods, so as to promote your health fitness.
When your calcium intake is low or calcium is poorly absorbed, bone breakdown occurs because the body must use the calcium stored in bones to maintain more urgent biological functions such as generating a heart beat, nerve and muscle function. Bone loss also occurs in post-menopausal women because of decreased estrogen. Researchers have identified many factors that increase the risk for developing osteoporosis. These factors include being female, thin, inactive, of advanced age, cigarette smoking, excessive intake of alcohol, taking immune suppressing drugs such as prednisone, and having a family history of osteoporosis
It constitutes 1.5-2 percent of the body weight of an adult human. There is a dynamic equilibrium between the calcium in the blood and in the skeleton; this equilibrium is maintained by the interaction of vitamin D, parathyroid hormone, and probably calcitonin.
Severe calcium deficiency, which is defined as a reduction of calcium levels in the bloodstream below a certain normal range, has its own clinical manifestations. The main syndrome is tetany, which involves sensations of numbness and tingling around the mouth and fingertips and painful aches and spasms of the muscles. A clinically detectable deficiency of calcium is a relatively rare finding and is almost always caused either by a deficiency of parathyroid hormone or of vitamin D in the body, the two chief regulators of calcium metabolism. Usually the problem manifests as an insidious, low level of calcium over a long period of time, which is far more difficult to correct.
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