Calcium recommended daily

Calcium recommended daily vary throughout a person's lifetime, with greater needs during periods of rapid growth and later in life. Due to mounting evidence that people are not getting enough calcium to prevent osteoporosis and other bone diseases, in 1997 the US government raised the recommendations for how much calcium people should consume every day.

Recommended intakes for pregnant and breastfeeding women are no longer greater than those for other women. This is partly based on recent studies which suggest that changes in calcium metabolism and absorption during pregnancy and breastfeeding are enough to meet the extra demands placed on a woman's body by her baby. A 1998 British study suggests that bone mineral density changes seen during breastfeeding seems to be unrelated to dietary calcium intake.

Two randomized, placebo-controlled trials of calcium supplementation were done on new mothers in 1997 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Researchers tested the effect of 1000 mg of calcium per day on bone density, measured at enrolment and after three and six months. The results showed no effect of either lactation or calcium supplementation on bone density in the forearm, and also no effect of calcium supplementation on the calcium concentration in breast milk.

In another study published in 1998, researchers studied calcium metabolism in 14 pregnant women from before conception to five months after their periods restairted. When the women were pregnant the increased needs were met by improved absorption, and then during the early breastfeeding period calcium excretion decreased. Some calcium was drawn from bone but this was recovered after menstruation restarted, although not to pre-pregnancy levels.

The women involved in this study were all consuming adequate levels of liikium and it is possible that women whose calcium intake is lower than 1300 mg per day may benefit from extra calcium or supplements.

________Men___________Women________Pregnancy_____Lactation______

USA                1000 mg             1000 mg             1000 mg             1000 mg

(14-18)         1300 mg             1300 mg             1300 mg             1300 mg

(postmenopause)___________1000 mg

The tolerable upper intake level for children over the age of one and adults has been set at 2500 mg per day.

Calcium
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Calcium recommended daily
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Other Minerals:

Boron
Calcium
Chromium
Cobalt
Copper
Electrolytes
Potassium
Sodium
Chloride
Fluoride
Iodine
Magnesium
Manganese
Molybdenum
Nickel
Phosphorus
Selenium
Silicon
Sulfur
Vanadium
Zinc