I was reading the papers when I heard an ‘interesting’ advertisement over the FM chinese radio station. The advertisement was talking about one brand of calcium supplement for the joints and it ended with a statement ‘把钙送到最需要的部位’.
This can really be misleading isn’t it?
According to Research, calcium absorption is a complex process involving several parts of the body, for example, the digestive system and kidneys. Poor kidney function can even cause calcium to accumulate in soft tissues instead of bones and possibly lead to arthritis, heart disease and senile dementia! In other words, taking SYNTHETIC calcium may not have the calcium deposited in our bones and worse, may lead to other detrimental effects.
According to The Straits Times article dated 31 July 2010 under the Mains segment – Calcium pills raise heart attack risk by 30%. It was mentioned that when we take calcium supplements, our blood calcium level will go up over the next 4-6 hours, and towards the top end of the normal range. However, when we take calcium-rich foods, the calcium from the food is absorbed very slowly and our blood calcium level will hardly change. When calcium level in our blood is high, we risk formation of plaque in our blood vessels that could lead to heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases.
So to prevent osteoporosis or to build up our calcium, consume calcium-rich food such as soy, broccoli, pearl, platycodon root, alfalfa, abm mushroom etc.
21 September 2018
