{"id":2930,"date":"2020-05-27T14:48:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T06:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paulstokes.com.au\/?p=2930"},"modified":"2021-01-31T18:18:59","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T10:18:59","slug":"calcium-as-a-nutrient-in-your-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulstokes.com.au\/calcium-as-a-nutrient-in-your-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Calcium as a nutrient in your body"},"content":{"rendered":"
Up until now, you may never have appreciated how important calcium is to your health. In your body, it’s present in 3 main forms. The huge majority (0ver 99%) of stored calcium is combined with phosphate in your bones.<\/p>\n
The remaining 1% is present as free ‘ions’, or bound to proteins.<\/p>\n
Don’t let this small percentage fool you though. It’s impos\u00adsible to overstate how important calcium is to your metabolism. In particular, the control it has over metabolic path\u00adways.<\/p>\n
Calcium has a very interesting property. Unlike other metal ions, free calcium can both bind strongly and unbind to proteins extremely rapidly. Consequently, nature uses this property in your body enabling calcium to act as a chemical ‘switch’.<\/p>\n
Mention calcium and most people immediately think of bones and teeth.<\/p>\n
Perhaps its most important function, calcium is needed to switch muscles on and off. That is to say, without calcium, you wouldn’t be able to contract any of your muscles.<\/p>\n
Calcium is also vital for transmitting nerve signals. The release of neurotransmitter chemicals such as serotonin, acetylcholine and norepinephrine requires calcium release from the synaptic vesicles.<\/p>\n
All cells require intracellular calcium to function. For instance, calcium regulates the transport of other nutrients in and out of cells. For these reasons, calcium can be considered as a lynchpin in controlling metabolism.<\/p>\n
Additionally, as if that wasn’t enough, calcium is also an important co-factor for blood clotting. More specifically, it’s involved in the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin.<\/p>\n
Finally, calcium also activates numerous key enzyme systems around the body.<\/p>\n
Calcium is critical for regulating metabolism. Due to this, our bodies try to maintain a constant blood calcium level. That is to say, between 7-10mg\/100ml.<\/p>\n
As a result of natural processes, we lose around 400 to 1000mg of calcium every day. Subsequently, if we don’t consume enough calcium in our diet, our body releases calcium into our bloodstream from our bones.<\/p>\n
However, long-term dietary calcium inadequacy can lead to osteoporosis. As a result, the bone structure becomes weakened.<\/p>\n
The UK Reference Nutrient Intake Figures (UK RNI) for dietary calcium are as follows:<\/p>\n