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Why you want calcium – “calcium citrate with vitamin d”
There is no query that your physique wants calcium. It is concerned in all the things from nerve sign transmission to blood vessel well being. Calcium builds and strengthens bones—a perform that is particularly essential after menopause, when bones change into extra fragile and susceptible to fractures. Vitamin D helps the physique soak up calcium, which is why the 2 vitamins are sometimes paired up in dietary supplements.
Based on the Institute of Drugs (IOM), ladies over age 50 want 1,200 milligrams (mg) of calcium a day, and 600 to 800 worldwide items (IU) of vitamin D a day. The problem is not whether or not you want calcium—it is how it’s best to get it. And most, if not all, of your calcium ought to come out of your kitchen—not your drugs chest.
“I think calcium and vitamin D are important for bone health, but I recommend that patients get calcium from their diet,” explains Dr. Meryl LeBoff, director of the Skeletal Well being and Osteoporosis Middle and Bone Density Unit at Brigham and Ladies’s Hospital and professor of medication at Harvard Medical College.
In case you’re not getting sufficient calcium from weight loss plan alone, add a complement—however solely take as a lot in tablet type as you want.
“I tell patients to estimate the amount of calcium they are getting from their diet and then supplement it. I don’t want them to take excess calcium,” says Dr. David Slovik, affiliate professor of medication at Harvard Medical College, chief of the Endocrine and Diabetes Unit at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and endocrinologist at Massachusetts Normal Hospital.
Getting sufficient vitamins
Good meals sources of calcium embrace
Vitamin D is activated in sun-exposed pores and skin, however that supply could be exhausting to return by within the winter months, particularly in case you reside in a northern local weather. An excessive amount of unprotected solar publicity additionally will increase your danger for pores and skin cancers.
Good meals sources of vitamin D embrace
Get extra calcium and vitamin D out of your weight loss plan, however do not drop your complement solely based mostly on the most recent information story. Your bones may endure for it. The choice to take dietary supplements needs to be individualized based mostly in your weight loss plan, and your distinctive dangers. “Review the specific recommendations with your doctor, because these are important health decisions,” Dr. LeBoff advises.
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As a service to our readers, Harvard Well being Publishing gives entry to our library of archived content material. Please word the date of final evaluation or replace on all articles. No content material on this website, no matter date, ought to ever be used as an alternative to direct medical recommendation out of your physician or different certified clinician.