How Much Calcium and Vitamin D Do We Actually Need?

The Institute of Medicine issued in November new guidelines regarding the daily intake of calcium and vitamin D people should take.

The new recommendations have caused lots of confusions amongst the people, as many of them questioned the new doses. Some of them believed that they were taking too much calcium and vitamin D, whereas some believed that their intake was too low. The calcium and the vitamin D are two nutrients which the body needs, but the amount which it requires has been debated for a very long time now. In the past decade there have been lots of mixed opinions about the daily intake of these two nutrients, as some recommended a certain amount, whereas others recommended a different amount. In order to clarity this situation, the U.S and Canadian governments asked the Institute of Medicine to reevaluate the situation, and to publish the daily intake of calcium and vitamin D which they consider to be healthy for the human body. The experts hired for the task have reached to the conclusion that consuming too much of these nutrients each day could lead to health complications. It was discovered that vitamin D is more dangerous than the calcium, and that consuming it in excess could lead to various health problems such as kidney stones and certain heart complications. They also discovered that by consuming too much calcium, the benefits of the vitamin D could be nullified, and thus, taking them could prove to be useless.

In order to make sure that your bones are healthy, you need to take both of these nutrients; otherwise they would not be effective. If you do not take the vitamin D, then the calcium would not be absorbed from the digestive track. However, there were lots of debates about who needs these supplements and about the amounts of supplements one should take in order to make sure that he will be healthy. As I already mentioned, the opinions about this subject were split. Some said that one should take a certain amount of these supplements, some said that one should take a different amount, and there were some who said that these supplements are not needed, as the body is able to take them from the food one consumes. The questions were very important, especially since more and more people are suffering from various bone diseases such as osteoporosis. It has been discovered that people have weaker bones than they had in the past, and there are various reasons why this happens. Some believe that this happened because of the amount of supplements these people take, whereas others believe that this happens because of the poor diet the people consume. It has been discovered that the majority of the American adults do not consume as much milk as they need to consume. During the conversion from middle adolescence to young adulthood the females reduced their calcium intake by 153 milligrams per day, and the males by 194 milligrams per day. This is very problematic, because the calcium intake should remain unchanged at least until the people reach the age of 20.

Women are more prone to sustaining bone injuries because their bone density declines more than in the case of the men. This usually happens when they reach menopause and because they lose lots of estrogen as they advance in age. The researchers have stated that the answer regarding the daily calcium and vitamin D intake one should have depends on various things. First of all, the diet is very important, as the foods drinks one consumes during the day can make a lot of difference. Another influential factor when it comes to the daily intake, is the family history of bone health. If your father, mother, grandfather, and so on, had weak bones, then the chances for you to have weak bones are high as well. On the other hand, if your family did not have problems with their bones over the course of time, you have lower chances of suffering from this problem. Another important factor to take in consideration is represented by the daily activities you conduct. If you do certain things which can influence your bone health in a negative manner, then you have higher chances of suffering from bone-related issues. The majority of the experts have stated that the most important thing when it comes to the health of the bones is the nutrition one has. The food and the drinks you consume are influential on the health of the bones, right from your childhood. If you consumed foods which are very high in calcium since you were a child, then your bones will be stronger by the time you become an adult. The dairy foods such as milk, cheese, and yogurt, are very important when it comes to the calcium intake. It has been discovered that the Americans do not consume as many dairy products as they did in the past. Instead of consuming healthy food, the majority of the Americans prefer to consume junk food. In fact, this behavior is occurring all over the world, not just in the United States. People are in a constant rush, and instead of cooking their meals, they buy it already made.

(medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/1-2007/value-of-foods-high-in-calcium-and-vitamin-d.html)

In the past people used to consume very large quantities of milk up until the point they reached the age of 30. Nowadays, people stop consuming milk by the time they reach the age of 15 or 16. A glass of milk will provide you with 300 milligrams of calcium. Eight ounces of yogurt will provide you with 400 milligrams of calcium. There are other types of food which you can consume in order to make sure that you get enough calcium: sardines, salmon, and even almonds. There are many foods which contain calcium, but very low amounts of it. For example you would have to eat kilograms of broccoli in order to consume the same amount of calcium assured by a glass of milk. The new recommended calcium intakes are as follows:

For the children between 4 and 8, the women and men between 19 and 50, and men between 51 and 70: 1,000 milligrams

For the children between 9 and 18: 1,300 milligrams

For women older than 51 and men older than 71: 1,200 milligrams

You should not exceed 2,000 milligrams per day, because if you do, you might develop various health problems, as the ones I already mentioned. It is very difficult to meet these requirements from the diet, if you do not consume enough dairy products. If you need 1,000 milligrams, you could consume three glasses of milk each day, and you would be almost done. However, the majority of the people do not consume so much milk, so they would need to meet the requirements through supplements. If you consume calcium carbonate, make sure that you take it with your meal, otherwise it will not be absorbed in the body. Also, you should make sure that you read the product label, because in the majority of the cases, a serving is represented by two tablets and not by one. When it comes to the vitamin D intake, people with the ages between 1 and 71 should consume 600 units, and the ones who are 71 or older should consume 800 units. The daily intake should not exceed 4,000 units. Vitamin D has the capacity of remaining in the body for a longer period of time, and thus it is much more efficient in time. We take vitamin D from the foods and drinks we consume, but also from the sun. However, since many of us apply certain creams and lotions to the skin in order to prevent skin cancer or other diseases, we do not take as much vitamin D from the sun as we believe.

There are certain types of foods which you can consume in order to make sure that you get your daily intake of vitamin D: poultry liver, fish liver oil, egg yolks, salmon, and so on. I hope this information was useful to you.