Weight Loss Saboteur 3: Know your calcium needs

Know how much calcium you need. This isn't going to be easy. The USDA says you need at least 1,000 milligrams of calcium a day from foods: one cup of milk (250 mL), plus one cup of yogurt and a cube of cheese (42 g).

For overweight women who are calcium deficient, boosting intake may spur weight loss, according to a 2009 study in the British Journal of Nutrition. The brain may detect the lack of calcium and try to compensate by increasing appetite to boost intake, say researchers.

For women who exercise regularly, you may want to think twice about the USDA guidelines. That's a lot of calories in 1000 milligrams.The recommendation is based on the average American, and if you're exercising four days a week (so unlike the average American) your requirement may be a third less.

You need calcium for strong bones. Before 30, calcium builds bones. After 30, you need calcium so your body doesn't take the calcium it needs from your bones leaving you with brittle bones that easily break. According to a recent article by the Harvard School of Public Health, osteoporosis or the weakening of bones can be avoided by:

• Getting regular exercise
• Getting adequate vitamin D, (through food, exposure to sunshine, or supplements)
• Consuming enough calcium
• Consuming adequate vitamin K, found in green, leafy vegetables.
• Not getting too much preformed vitamin A.

So try to feed your body calcium with foods containing the mineral taking a supplement only if you have to (with a vitamin D kicker). And yes, dairy products have the highest concentration per serving of highly absorbable calcium. Not too far behind are dark leafy greens and dried beans.

But how much calcium? However, the healthiest or safest amount of dietary calcium hasn't yet been established. Different scientific approaches have yielded different estimates, so it's important to consider all the evidence. Article by the Harvard School of Public Health

For myself, I thought of taking 1300 mg of calcium a day, just to be safe. Wrong, do it and you may be contributing to problems such as heart disease or cancer (ovarian or prostate). Some scientists don't even think calcium helps prevents breaks or fractures. Take time to read the above article.

Three groups of people have low rates of bone loss: the Japanese, the Indians (Asian), and Peruvians. On average they eat 300 mg. of calcium a day. What they do, on the whole, that the average American doesn't do, is exercise and apparently get more sunshine. I exercise, I limit my caffeine intake, my diet is well balanced. From a calcium requirements perspective, I'm more Japanese than American. I'm going to stay the course I've already set for myself with calcium. If I stop exercising, or start drinking more Diet Coke (my only source of caffeine), I'll have to increase my calcium intake.

Further supporting my thoughts, the British committee that suggest dietary guidelines for the UK, looked at the same data and recommended just 700 mg of calcium for people over 19. Makes you wonder the role of the American Dairy Association in putting together the US guidelines. I'll leave you with this last quote from the Harvard School of Public Health article.

Currently, there's no good evidence that consuming more than one serving of milk per day in addition to a reasonable diet (which typically provides about 300 milligrams of calcium per day from nondairy sources) will reduce fracture risk. Because of unresolved concerns about the risk of ovarian and prostate cancer, it may be prudent to avoid higher intakes of dairy products.

*The Mypyramid.gov website says 3 cups (1000 mg), dig deeper and it varies by gender and age. For example a woman over 50 needs 1300 mg according to this web site. **How Mypyramid.gov presents the 'meat' category, again 'meat' not 'protein', is also problematic but not covered here.