The A to Z of ‘miracle mineral’ calcium and how it helps your body to function at its optimum best

The A to Z of ‘miracle mineral’ calcium and how it helps your body to function at its optimum best
 
IS THE CALCIUM GOING IN?
 Just eating a lot of calcium-rich food-, does not ensure that it is being absorbed. Factors that can prevent the body from absorbing calcium include smoking, a diet that is high in salt, caffeine-rich drinks, excessive alcohol, heavy intake of animal proteins, crash diets that tend to cut out dairy products, and too much of high-fiber foods.
It’s best to eat foods that contain a form of calcium that is easily absorbed by the body. Dairy products such as milk, cheese and yoghurt contain high amounts of calcium that is readily absorbed; Skimmed milk products provide as much calcium as whole milk, but without adding as fatter and cholesterol to your diet.
20.6.05 The A to Z of ‘miracle mineral’ calcium and how it helps your body to function at its optimum best.
Vegetables such as broccoli, amaranth, bok choy and mustard greens, as well as fish bones, also contain ‘easy’ calcium. Certain foods, such as spinach, however, contain calcium-binding substances called oxalates and make any calcium in them (or in another food eaten with them) difficult to assimilate.
Vitamin D, on the other hand, is crucial to calcium absorption, increasing its success by as much as 30 percent to 80 percent. The easiest way to get vitamin D is from sunlight — which lets the body manufacture its own. Milk is a good source, too, as are eggs, chicken liver, salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel, swordfish and cod liver oil.