Calcium tablets are generally regarded as one of the basic measures to prevent bone loss and treat osteoporosis, and are widely favored by middle-aged and elderly people because of their important functions in improving their health.
However, we all know the importance of calcium supplementation, but some people don't know how to maximize the effect of calcium supplementation. Although eating calcium tablets is a trivial matter, taking calcium tablets is also very particular. Do you really know calcium tablets and know how to take them?
There is time to pay attention to taking calcium tablets. Some medical studies show that the best time to take calcium tablets is after dinner or before going to bed. There are three main reasons:
First, the human body stops eating at night, but urine will form normally, and a part of calcium in the blood will continue to enter the urine, which will lead to the lowest blood calcium concentration in the middle of the night and early morning. In order to maintain the normal blood calcium level, the human body function will first be supplemented with calcium in bones. Therefore, after dinner or before going to bed, we can supplement calcium in an appropriate amount to provide some calcium sources for the calcium regulation system in the body, thus preventing calcium deficiency in the body.
Secondly, for the three time periods of morning, middle and evening, because our gastrointestinal peristalsis and absorption ability are different, the effect of calcium supplementation in each time period is also different. Generally speaking, the effect of calcium supplementation is the strongest at night. Therefore, it is recommended to take calcium tablets after dinner, which is more conducive to absorption; Third, calcium also has a calming effect and helps sleep.
People with different constitutions absorb calcium differently. For example, for people with low gastric acid, the increase of gastric acid secretion will help to enhance the body's ability to absorb calcium. Therefore, people with normal gastric acid secretion should take it after meals. Calcium tablets will affect the absorption of other nutrients in food, so it is best to take calcium tablets between meals.
In addition, crushing calcium tablets will increase the body surface area of drugs, which is more conducive to body absorption, and it is better to take them in batches than in large quantities at one time, which can avoid the occurrence of side effects such as constipation and flatulence. In order to give full play to the effectiveness of calcium tablets, I suggest you pay attention to these when taking calcium tablets!
We often see reports that calcium tablets and vitamin D supplements for the elderly have no effect, not only failing to prevent the risk of fracture, but also producing various side effects. This is not the same as what we usually understand about calcium supplementation. Why do calcium supplementation and vitamin D break instead? What is the truth?
In fact, whether to eat calcium tablets is also very important. It is not because calcium is of great benefit to the human body. It is necessary to supplement calcium tablets every day, otherwise eating it wrong will be harmful. When to supplement calcium, the key depends on whether our body is short of calcium. If we usually lack calcium in our diet, we need to add extra calcium. Therefore, it is necessary for us to learn the correct way to supplement calcium, so as to get twice the result with half the effort!
Eating calcium tablets when the human body is short of calcium will make the absorption rate of calcium higher. For example, during pregnancy, the body needs a lot of calcium at this time because the child can't directly absorb external nutrition. Only when the mother has enough calcium can she make a good reserve for the development of the baby's deciduous teeth and bones. Thus, the mother's intake of calcium not only affects her own health, but also has a very important impact on the child's development.
When taking calcium tablets, we should also be careful not to eat a lot of foods containing more oxalic acid, such as spinach, coriander and green pepper, because calcium can easily react with these foods to form calcium oxalate, which is not easy to be absorbed in the stomach and is easy to form stones. In addition, coffee, tea, carbonated drinks, and foods with high fiber and excessive oil should not be eaten together with calcium tablets, which are also easy to cause stones.
In addition, we often misunderstand that calcium tablets and dairy products can also be eaten together. In fact, they are also recommended not to be taken together. First, because calcium tablets and dairy products are easy to condense into blocks, this greatly affects the digestion and absorption function of the stomach and will cause symptoms of indigestion; Second, taking it together will cause "milk-alkali syndrome", which is manifested as alkalosis, hypercalcemia, renal function damage and so on.
Moreover, taking calcium tablets and iron trace elements together will affect the absorption rate of calcium and iron in human body, because iron and calcium are divalent cations, which will inhibit each other and affect the absorption of human body. This is a competitive absorption phenomenon, that is, we often say that nutrition is supplemented in vain. If you take other drugs at the same time when supplementing calcium, it is best to read the instructions carefully to avoid affecting the efficacy and even causing side effects.
It is very important to remember to supplement vitamin D when supplementing calcium! Vitamin D can assist the absorption of calcium. If the intake is low, or the sun is not enough, it will reduce the absorption rate of calcium in the human body.
However, everything has two sides, and calcium supplementation is not absolutely "more is better". Supplying too much calcium will be harmful to health. The amount of calcium we need every day, if we eat normally, is generally enough. For patients with severe osteoporosis, they need extra calcium supplements, but the phenomenon of excessive calcium supplementation is still very common among the elderly.
Medical advice: For premenopausal women, the optimal daily calcium intake (diet plus supplements) is 1000mg, and the recommended daily vitamin D intake is 600 u; The optimal daily intake of calcium (diet+supplement) for postmenopausal women is 1200mg, and the intake of vitamin D is 800U. However, when our calcium intake reaches 2000mg／/day, it means that we have exceeded the standard line of daily calcium intake.
We usually get the necessary nutrition by improving the diet structure, and the absorbed calcium content will not exceed the standard. Excessive calcium supplementation is often caused by taking calcium supplements, that is, calcium tablets. So, what are the adverse effects of this excessive use of calcium tablets?
1, kidney calculi. The risk of kidney calculi's disease will increase obviously if calcium tablets are used to supplement calcium completely. So, anyway, we should know that food tonic is better than medicine tonic. On the other hand, calcium supplements should also be taken scientifically according to the doctor's advice.
2, indigestion. At present, most of the calcium tablets sold in the market are calcium carbonate. This type of calcium tablets has a high relative calcium content. After entering the digestive system, calcium carbonate will cause a series of irritation to the gastrointestinal tract. If a large amount of calcium carbonate is taken once, it will cause harm to middle-aged and elderly people with bad stomach.
3. Excessive intake of nutrients is related to negative health outcomes. Excessive intake of calcium (daily intake exceeds 1000 mg) or increases the risk of cancer death in the population. It is found that excessive calcium intake is related to the increased risk of cancer death in the population, and the mortality rate increases 1.7 thousand people/year. And compared with the intake of calcium in food, the intake of at least 1000mg of calcium per day through dietary supplements is associated with an increased risk of cancer death (RR= 1.53), and the mortality rate increases 1.5/ thousand years.
In addition, a study in the United States found that when the source of nutrition is food rather than supplements, appropriate intake of specific nutrients or lower all-cause mortality.
As the saying goes: too much is too late, especially in the field of health and wellness. Excessive intake of food and drugs will bring certain hidden dangers and risks to our physical and mental health. Following a gradual, scientific and reasonable supplementary way is the real way to keep healthy.
Calcium supplementation should be scientific, do you remember?
Can you supplement calcium only by eating calcium tablets? The answer is no.
Only eat calcium tablets, calcium may not be absorbed by our body, but also rely on vitamin D3 to promote calcium absorption. Vitamin D3 can participate in the metabolism of calcium and phosphorus, promote their absorption and play an important role in bone formation. Supplementing appropriate amount of vitamin D can enhance the immune regulation function, but a large amount of intake may cause toxic reactions such as loss of appetite, fatigue, arrhythmia, nausea, vomiting and emaciation.
Therefore, vitamin D supplementation should also be appropriate. Calcium and phosphorus are the most abundant inorganic elements in human body. About 99% of calcium and 86% of phosphorus exist in bones and teeth in the form of hydroxyapatite, which are important components of bones and teeth and also participate in the regulation of various physiological functions of the body. Supplementing calcium and vitamin D is the basic prevention and treatment principle of hypocalcemia.
However, long-term and obvious hypocalcemia can cause changes in bone morphology and structure, such as osteomalacia and osteoporosis; However, acute and severe hypocalcemia can lead to the increase of nerve and muscle excitability, the increase of myocardial excitability and conductivity, muscle spasm, hand-foot convulsion and convulsion. The ECG shows prolonged Q-T interval and ST segment, and low or inverted T wave.
In addition, chronic calcium deficiency in the body can also lead to dry skin, desquamation, sparse hair and brittle nails. Calcium deficiency in infants and young children will lead to decreased immunity and be susceptible to virus infection. Therefore, in life, we can't ignore enough outdoor sunshine time to ensure the effective absorption of calcium.