An important association between bone health and heart health
Place Your Bets
Continuing on the topic of healthy bones, I have this question for women over the age of 50: Are you getting enough of two key nutrients that nourish and protect your bones?
If I were a betting woman, I’d wager that most women would have to answer “no.” And I’m not betting a hunch here; the numbers are in, and they’re not encouraging. I recently came across four news items about bone health, all written within six weeks of each other, but their headlines read as if one person had written all four in one sitting.
Today I’ll take a quick look at each of these articles, with tips on how to avoid deficiencies of calcium and vitamin D.
The calcium helper
If you think this one is a no-brainer, you’re right. And yet, according to the Osteoporosis Research Center (ORC) in Omaha, Nebraska, older women generally realize the importance of calcium intake, but most still don’t get enough.
Robert P. Heaney, M.D., told WebMD that he’d like to send American women to the chalkboard to write 1,000 times: “I will take my calcium.” That was his response to an ORC study that assessed calcium intake in more than 11,000 women. Results showed that only 15 percent of postmenopausal women get more than 727 mg of calcium daily. The recommended intake for women over age 50 is 1,200 mg per day.
That said, there’s good news in headline number two “Adequate Vitamin D Could Lower Calcium Requirement”
This isn’t news, really. Nutritionists have known for some time that calcium is better metabolized when vitamin D is abundant. And that’s confirmed by a new study published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The methodology used by researchers at a university hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland, is a little complicated, so we’ll just cut to the chase. An analysis of food frequency questionnaires and blood samples of 944 subjects showed that sufficient amounts of vitamin D may be more important than high doses of calcium.
The key word here, of course, is “sufficient.”
The D problem
Headline number three – “Vitamin D Deficiency Widespread” – refers to a study that appeared in the October 2005 issue of the Journal of Nutrition.
Researchers at an Amsterdam medical center compared blood samples, hormone levels and questionnaires submitted by nearly 2,600 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis in 18 different countries. On average, more than 60 percent of the subjects were vitamin D deficient. And this number rose by several percentage points among women who were tested during winter months.
This last detail reveals the best source of vitamin D: sun exposure. Dietary sources include eggs, liver, fish liver oils and oily fish such as salmon, sardines, trout and tuna. In the e-Alert “Sunny Side of the Street” (12/22/03), I told you about Dr. Jonathan Wright’s recommendations for vitamin D intake: Between 1,600 and 2,000 IUs daily, and as much as 4,000 IUs for those over 40. Cod liver oil provides more than 1,300 IUs of vitamin D per tablespoon.
Function follows form
And finally, we return to calcium. The thing is, when you go shopping for a calcium supplement you’ll find there are several different forms.
In the e-Alert “Absorbing it All” (4/19/04), HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., reviewed the pros and cons of different calcium forms. He noted that calcium orotate, calcium aspartate and calcium amino acid chelates provide excellent calcium absorption, but all three forms are expensive and may be hard to find. For the best compromise of price, percentage of elemental calcium and absorption, Dr. Spreen recommends calcium citrate.
Dr. Spreen adds: “Calcium is not found in nature (in edible form) without magnesium, and they therefore should always be given together. Plus, phosphorous is also needed with calcium.”
Talk to your doctor or a health care professional before adding any of these supplements to your daily regimen.
Sources:
“Women Need More Calcium” WebMD, 9/28/05 cbsnews.com
“Adequate Vitamin D Could Lower Calcium Requirement” D. Dye, Life Extension Foundation, 11/9/05, lef.org
“Vitamin D Deficiency Widespread” D. Dye, Life Extension Foundation, 10/7/05, lef.org
“Most Older Women Deficient in Vitamin D” NutraIngredients, 9/30/05, nutraingredients.com
