Are Vegetables Related to Calcium Supplementation? 7 Dietary Misconceptions to Avoid
Many people often supplement calcium by taking calcium supplements, but they are not very clear on how to promote calcium absorption in their diet. Moreover, if they are not careful, they may fall into misconceptions that hinder calcium absorption. Understanding these common misconceptions about calcium supplementation will be very beneficial for you to supplement calcium through your diet.
·Thinking that eating beef is good for bones
Many people believe that Westerners have strong bones because they love to eat beef. In fact, many people who eat a lot of beef are those who are seriously deficient in calcium. This is because beef itself has an extremely low calcium content—all meat is like this. At the same time, meat contains a large amount of "acid-forming elements," mainly phosphorus, sulfur, and chlorine, which make the blood more acidic. The body then has to use calcium ions from food and bones to neutralize these acid-forming elements, thus increasing the loss of calcium from the body and reducing calcium absorption. Therefore, middle-aged and elderly people who are calcium deficient should appropriately control their intake of meat, whether it is red meat or white meat.
·Thinking that eating vegetables has nothing to do with bone health
Many people prefer animal foods but rarely pay attention to supplementing with vegetables. They think vegetables only contain some dietary fiber and vitamins and have nothing to do with bone health. In fact, vegetables not only contain large amounts of potassium and magnesium, which can help maintain acid-base balance and reduce calcium loss, but they also contain a fair amount of calcium themselves. Leafy green vegetables are mostly moderate sources of calcium, such as rape, bok choy, kale, celery, etc., and are all calcium-supplementing vegetables that cannot be ignored.
·Thinking that replacing meals with fruit is good for bone health
Many women who are on a weight-loss diet believe that they can get enough protein and vitamins just by eating fruit, so they often use fruit to replace a meal. In fact, fruit is a food that is beneficial for acid-base balance, but it is not a good source of calcium and is seriously deficient in protein. Bone formation requires a lot of calcium, as well as collagen as a framework for calcium deposition. If you replace three meals with fruit, both protein and calcium intake will be seriously insufficient, which will only promote the occurrence of osteoporosis.
·Thinking that drinking beverages has nothing to do with calcium supplementation
Most beverages contain phosphates, which seriously hinder calcium absorption and promote calcium loss. Cola is the most harmful among them—because it contains phosphoric acid. Soaking human teeth and bones in cola will cause them to slowly dissolve! The refined sugar in it is also not good for calcium absorption. Therefore, anyone who needs to supplement calcium must strictly control the amount of sweet drinks they consume. Tea water is rich in potassium ions, has a low phosphorus content, and also contains fluorine, which promotes the strength of bones and teeth, so drinking tea is beneficial and harmless to bone health.
·Thinking that drinking bone soup will no longer lead to calcium deficiency
The calcium in bones will never easily dissolve out. Experiments have shown that after being steamed in a pressure cooker for two hours, the fat from the marrow floats to the surface, but the calcium in the soup is still minimal. The only way to supplement calcium with bone soup is to add half a bowl of vinegar and simmer it slowly for one or two hours. Vinegar can effectively help dissolve bone calcium. It should be noted that at this time, you must not use a pressure cooker; it is best to use a clay pot to stew it to avoid dissolving too much aluminum in the bone soup.
·Thinking that drinking milk is not helpful for calcium supplementation
Although some people claim that milk contains a lot of protein, which will make the body more acidic and promote calcium loss, this statement is not entirely correct. In fact, the protein content in milk is only 3%, while the water content is as high as 87%. Every 250 grams of milk contains more than 250 milligrams of calcium, as well as rich potassium and magnesium, and also contains vitamin D, lactose, and essential amino acids that promote calcium absorption. Unlike meat, milk is not an acid-forming food, but a weakly alkaline-forming food. Therefore, milk will not make body fluids acidic, nor will it promote calcium loss. Overall, milk is still the best food for calcium supplementation.
·Using silken tofu to supplement calcium and believing that soy milk is a high-calcium food
Tofu is the best calcium-supplementing food among plant-based foods. Soybeans themselves contain a fair amount of calcium, and when tofu is coagulated, a calcium-containing coagulant is also added, so people who do not drink milk are usually consciously more likely to eat more tofu. However, silken tofu is not a good source of calcium because it does not contain a calcium-containing coagulant, but uses glucono-delta-lactone as the coagulant. At the same time, silken tofu has too much water, and its protein and calcium content are very low. Besides silken tofu, "Japanese tofu" also cannot be used for calcium supplementation.
In terms of calcium content, soy milk is far from comparable to milk. This is because although the calcium content of soybeans is not too low, after grinding 10 cups of water into soy milk, the content is diluted to a very low level. Drinking a glass of soy milk is equivalent to eating only a few dozen soybeans, and the calcium in it is very small. The real benefit of soy milk for bones is that it can provide phytoestrogens, which reduces calcium loss in menopausal women.