Many stages in a person's life require calcium supplementation, but many people only focus on what to eat for the best effect, without considering how to eat for better absorption. Experts point out that many people's calcium supplementation is ineffective because they consume too much salt at the same time.
Calcium and sodium can easily compete during the reabsorption process in the renal tubules. When sodium intake is high, the body correspondingly reduces calcium absorption and increases calcium excretion in urine. Research has found that the more salt is consumed, the more calcium is excreted in urine, and the worse the calcium absorption. It can be said that a high-sodium diet is a major killer of calcium supplementation.
Therefore, when supplementing with calcium, people must pay attention to a low-salt diet, eating less or avoiding foods that have too much sodium added during processing and preparation, such as cured or smoked meats, pickles, and salty snacks.
It is best to drink milk or take calcium tablets about 2 hours before or after meals to reduce the direct conflict between sodium and calcium. If you want to supplement calcium by drinking pork rib soup, you should use even less salt or no salt at all when cooking it.