In any discussion of the lifestyle elements that can control or prevent disease, Canada’s Food Guide for Healthy Eating is often cited. However, as good as the Food Guide is, it doesn’t cut the mustard when it comes to a disease like osteoporosis that responds so well to specialized nutritional attention.
Calcium is used by just about every cell in the body including the heart, muscles, nervous system and of course the bones. It’s such an important material that the body has a system for storing it and retrieving it. In this sense, bones are like a calcium battery. They serve as a back-up system if we aren’t taking in enough calcium to do critical jobs like keeping our hearts running.
So how much calcium should we be getting? The recommended daily intake for someone over age 50 is 1500 mg per day, but getting that amount of calcium into the system is not as easy as one might think. Consider the following food menu: two cups of milk, two slices of processed cheese, one slice of cheese pizza, one frozen yogurt, one serving of cottage cheese and one orange. These are all calcium-rich foods. Surely, eating all this in a single day would cover the body’s needs? Not so! If you were using the Canadian Osteoporosis Society’s calcium calculator (osteoporosis.ca), you’d see that you still come up short at about 1275 mgs. Clearly, calcium supplements are well worth considering.
Taking in enough calcium is only part of the picture. It’s not just a question of how much you take in – it’s a question of how much "sticks to the ribs" (literally and figuratively). That’s where vitamin D3 comes. Firstly, it increases the efficiency of calcium absorption in the intestines. Secondly, it mobilizes calcium stores from bones in order to maintain calcium levels in the blood stream.
The bottom line is that appropriate amounts of D3 can increase calcium absorption by as much as 30-80 per cent. The recommended daily intake for those over 50 is 800 International Units. However, considering that 250 ml of fortified milk only contains 100 International Units, getting an adequate supply is by no means easy. Once again, supplements are well worth considering.
There are other supplements that may be helpful, although this is not without controversy. Some studies indicate that Vitamin K has a role to play in maintaining bone mass (possibly by helping the body process D3 and Calcium). Vitamin B12 may also be of use, since it is linked to healthy bone-marrow function.
One big word of caution here. The roles of Calcium and D3 are well established but the others are less so. Self-medication should not be undertaken without proper, professional advice. And in the case of osteoporosis under active treatment, supplements should never, ever be taken without consulting your pharmacist.
(Sources include the American Society for Nutritional Sciences – Nutrition.org)