Calcium & Vitamin D are essential for the life.

Related Articles

Stop Heart Burn to have good health.

September 16, 2022

Understanding High blood pressure or Hypertension

September 9, 2022

Pakistani Baby in India becomes the youngest donor of bone marrow.

August 17, 2020

Both the Calcium &  Vitamin D are vital and necessary for building strong and compact
bone.

By Mahmood Hussain, Thursday 30 th May 2019, the article is written for www.babyfirst.com.pk
BABY FIRST PAKISTAN and on Facebook.babyfirstPakistan and other social media such as
LinkedIn, Twitter and so on. Writer Mahmood Hussain is from Karachi Pakistan. Currently in
Dubai with granddaughter Zaynab and today is the start day of one day ICC world cup 2019 at
England & Wales.

Its recommended level to be maintained during young age (2-12years). This is also quite important during the adolescent and progressing age. It also very much needed when the age progresses that is after 50 plus and within the senior citizen. At this age the need is to manage bone calcium for strong and healthy bone in either sex. In women after the age of 50 (when menopause phase normally starts) their hormonal level are disturb which may lead towards the osteoporosis. During this phase the daily calcium in needed as per advised level by the experts. Vitamin D and Calcium both are important nutrient for the bone to remain healthy. We all need diet which are rich in calcium. This will helps to protect and build our bone. The calcium rich diet incudes daily consumption of dairy products, leafy green vegetables, fish and handful of nuts in routine.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) is one of the leading dedicated organization
and their focus is on how to prevent osteoporosis and broken bones. NOF was established in 1984.Their slogan and theme is:
“Strong Bone for Life”
NOF objective is to reduce the suffering of human being. They run tailor made awareness and educational program for the doctors, paramedic staff, health care provider and general public.

Importance of Calcium and what it do in our routine life. 

Calcium is important for several body function. Calcium is a mineral, which mainly constitute bone and teeth. They play important role with in human body such as: 

• Building healthy bones, 
• Its function are blood clotting. 
• It is require for muscular contraction.  
• Important for body movement 
• It maintain the heartbeat level. 
• Require calcium level are essential for transporting and travelling message through nerves. 
• It level is also important for regulation of body chemicals.
• Calcium level aid in formation cell membranes.

Role of Calcium in formation of bones. In bone formation calcium plays an important role Bones are formed by a process which is known as mineralization

Nearly 99% of calcium is present within the bones and teeth. 

Daily we lose calcium via skin, hair, nails, sweet, feces and urine. 

Our body does not produce calcium so it is very important for our body to replenish calcium from the food we eat. If this requirement is not met via food intake than needed calcium is extracted from the bone of our body. This way calcium requirement can’t be met. If it is frequent feature than bone may become week and chances of it fracture increases.    

This has been observed especially within senior citizens worldwide and among many American citizens (well documented) they fell short of daily calcium need. This result in bone loss. It may result in having the bone with low density. If this condition persists this will lead towards the chances of fracture of bone.

Calcium deficiency and its consequences.

In case of calcium deficiency bone and teeth will deteriorate with the passage of time, because the body need calcium to perform various functions so it starts dragging / withdrawing it from bones of the body. 

If calcium deficiency persist over long period this can result in several health problems such as Ricketts and blood clotting.     

 

Role of vitamin D and aid in absorption of calcium.

Vitamin D plays an important role by protecting our bone. This can be achieve by absorbing calcium and strengthening our muscle which protect us from falling. 

In growing age of child they need Vitamin D to build strong bone. Where as in adult it is needed to have their bone to be strong and healthy. If the needed vitamin D requirement are not met, the chances of bone fracture increases with progressing age most likely above fifty years of age.

How to know that not getting enough Calcium.

There are few symptoms start appearing which indicate the individual is not getting needed amount of calcium within their daily diet. Symptoms which appear due to calcium deficiency are listed below,

• Muscular spasm
• Feeling of tingling or numbness with in the body periphery.
• Frequent fracture of bone due to calcium deficiency.

==========  100%

How to know that individual is overdose because of calcium intake?

Recommended Dietary Calcium Intake per day range is between 800to1300mg. It dependent on the age group range from 4 years to 50+ and pregnant women. 

It has been observed if individual takes 3,000 mg of calcium per day for a long period of time may likely to develop hypercalcemia, is a condition in which the calcium level within blood is above normal level. Presence of excessive calcium in the blood may weaken your body bones.

This also likely to create kidney stones. This also interfere with the heart and brain function. Hypercalcemia condition may also appear because of overactive parathyroid gland. 

In case of mild nature hypercalcemia the symptoms of distress do not appear while in more serious nature of hypercalcemis symptoms appear such as: 

1. Increase in frequency of urination and have the feel of excessive thirst.
2. Digestive problem and feel of stomach pain.
3. Pain in bone 
4. Vomiting
5. Muscular weakness.
6. Fatigue, lethargy and state of confusion. 
7. Abnormal heart beat and high blood pressure.
8. Depression and anxiety
9. Constipation

Importance of Vitamin D in life of the individual.

The function of Vitamin D is to maintain normal levels of calcium and phosphorous with in blood. Other significant function is to aid in absorption of calcium which is needed to manage strong bones with in body. Alone itself or in combination with Calcium it increases bone mineralization which is good for the bone density and it reduces chances of fracture.

Beside the above stated facts recent ongoing research suggest vitamin D protect us from osteoporosis, high blood pressure, cancer and several autoimmune diseases.

Vitamin D deficiency and its consequences. 

The classical symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency are Ricketts and osteomalacia. In the children vitamin D deficiency causes Ricketts disease, which lead to skeletal deformity. Among adult If Vitamin D deficiency persist it will lead to osteomalacia and this result in weakness of muscle in addition to have weak bones. 

What is osteomalacia.

Softness of bones is refer as Osteomalacia. As we know bone are hard living active tissue from the front face. Bones are in continuous formation stage, it is remove and replace with the fresh one. Whole process is known as turnover of bone. Bones outer shell is hard and are made mainly from Calcium and phosphorous. The softer inner side of bone is made up of collagen which is fiber. 

Vitamin D need can be obtained from three sources such as:

Food 

Sunlight

Supplement 

Very briefly high light the benefits of all three sources of vitamin D.

Sunlight. We all know our skin make vitamin D while we are expose to sunlight. This also allows to store in fat form to be use later on. Good thing is we have plenty of sunlight I live in Pakistan as well as our neighbor countries like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepal and Myanmar. 

It is important for us to know how much Vitamin D our skin is capable to produce. It is dependent on various activities that is the time we spent outside during the sunlight, which is the season, at what latitude we live, how is our skin pigmentation, age and other factors too.     

Skin make Vitamin D while we expose to sunlight and also store fat for later use.

Availability of Vitamin D in the food.

Vitamin D is found in very few foods. It sources includes fatty fish such as tuna, salmon and mackerel. Vitamin can be added to dairy products such as milk and other products such as yogurt and cheese. This is added in soya milk, found in orange juice and cereals which are fortified.

Meeting the need of Vitamin D is quite difficult from the food we eat. Most of the doctors recommend vitamin D supplement and also people especially old age need to get enough vitamin D for having healthy bone Vitamin D its Daily Value (DV) based on our daily intake of 400 IU. If we consume a cup of milk daily this provide 25% of daily value that is equal to 100 IU of vitamin D.

Is vitamin D deficiency is risky.

This vitamin D deficiency occurs when an individual is not getting recommended level of it for a period of time. 

Certain type of people carry higher risk for vitamin D deficiency such as. 

These include people who give little time to stay under sun light. Also among the people especially in the women in our region who covered themselves while going out of house (Wearing burqa or hijab most of the time).

Old or senior people are confine to live in home most of the time due to certain illness and are at risk 

Staying at nursing / old homes.

People with several medical conditions that is inflammatory bowel syndrome. 

People with the highly dark color skin.

People who are obese or too much overweight

Individual taking medicine that interfere with vitamin D level,

The risk may increase if individual suffering from osteoporosis. Will have vitamin D deficiency. To cover up this situation the physician may prescribe high dose of vitamin D for time being to bring the level to the normal level.  

Article written by Mahmood Hussain for Baby First website, facebook, linkedin, twitter and other social and digital media.