Calcium is the most abundant mineral that is in the human body. Almost all of the calcium in our body, over ninety nine percent, is stored in two places, your teeth and bones. There are several important functions of calcium, and some of these are muscle contractions, like your heart, the expansion and contraction of your blood vessels, sending messages through your nervous system, and secreting enzymes and hormones.
By maintaining a constant level of calcium in your body fluids and tissues, the vital processes of your body can function efficiently without stopping. Your bones are in a constant state of remodeling, with bone being broken down and then reformed each night while you sleep. During this process, calcium is deposited in the new bone.
When we are young, more bone is formed each night than what is broken down. In our middle adult years, the process is about even, with the same amount of bone broken down that is formed.. As older adults, the process reverses, and more bone is torn down that what is built. This leads to a loss of bone density, and this is the reason that older adults are prone to Osteoporosis and other brittle bone disorders. Calcium is found in a wide variety of foods, but the most common are milk, cheese, and yogurt. These three sources have the most calcium per serving, and are very high in this nutrient.
The recommendations of the FDA vary, according to age. In small infants and children, this amount can be anywhere from two hundred and ten milligrams per day up to eight hundred milligrams. Children from age nine until age eighteen should have thirteen hundred milligrams of calcium per day.
An adult from age nineteen until age fifty should have around one thousand milligrams of calcium in their diet each day. Once an adult reaches the age of fifty one, they should boost their calcium intake to twelve hundred milligrams daily, because this is the age that bone loss is more than bone formation, and the extra calcium will help keep your bones and teeth strong and healthy.
It is recommended that every person should consume at least two servings of dairy each day, and preferably three or more servings. A typical serving would be one eight ounce cup of milk, one and a half ounces of natural cheese, like Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, an eight ounce serving of yogurt, or two ounces of cheese that has been processed, like American or Velveeta.
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