Supplement Calcium During the Golden Period: Diet and Cooking to Preserve Calcium
Introduction: Supplementing calcium is a familiar and topic of concern for the public. Are you familiar with the best stage for calcium supplementation? How can we improve our daily diet to prevent calcium from being easily lost? How should we combine ingredients in our daily choices to help with calcium absorption? Read on to find out.
An unbalanced dietary structure, as well as oxalic acid and dietary fiber in vegetables, can also prevent calcium absorption. The eating habits of Chinese residents directly lead to 90% of the population being in a state of lifelong calcium deficiency.
Several Factors Lead to Calcium Deficiency
Smoking, drinking alcohol, and frequently consuming carbonated drinks: These can acidify the body, causing calcium loss; carbonated drinks also contain phosphate, which can disrupt the body's calcium-phosphorus ratio and directly block calcium absorption;
Frequent consumption of strong tea: The theophylline in tea can prevent the body from absorbing calcium;
Frequent consumption of coffee: Caffeine can promote calcium loss and increase urinary calcium excretion;
High salt intake: Increases urinary calcium excretion, leading to significant loss;
Poor dietary combinations: Consuming large amounts of oxalic acid and phytic acid foods with calcium-rich foods results in unabsorbable calcium;
Special physiological needs: Women lose a large amount of calcium during menstruation;
Menopausal women: A sudden decrease in estrogen levels causes bone calcium to dissolve, accelerating the rate at which it leaves the bones.
Diabetes can cause osteoporosis: Diabetic patients have very low insulin levels in their blood, and insulin stimulates the formation of bone collagen, helping bones retain calcium and rebuild.
Adults Should Not Miss the Golden Age for Calcium Supplementation.
Scientific research has confirmed that after the age of 32 for men and 28 for women, bone calcium decreases by 0.1—0.5% annually. By the age of 60, as much as 50% of bone calcium can be lost, making osteoporosis more likely to occur.
Currently, besides using some hormones to slow the loss of calcium, there are no better ways to prevent the reduction of bone calcium.
Research shows that calcium supplementation is only effective in maximizing mineral content in bones when done around the age of 30. After 35, the body's overall physiological functions begin to decline. Therefore, the best time for calcium supplementation is from before the age of 35 throughout the entire adolescent development period.
Each person should intake 800 mg of calcium daily. However, it is difficult for our current dietary structure to meet this target.
The daily calcium intake for young men is around 500 mg, and for women, around 400 mg. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to increasing foods high in calcium or taking calcium supplements in the usual diet.
Foods high in calcium include dairy products, beans, dried fruits, green leafy vegetables, and animal bones. Dairy products have the highest calcium content, and the body's absorption and utilization rate is also high. 250 grams of milk can contain up to 300 mg of calcium, so drinking 250 grams of fresh milk daily is an ideal way to supplement calcium.
If you supplement with 1 gram of calcium tablets or preparations, such as calcium gluconate daily, your body's needs can also be met. In addition, it should be emphasized that women's calcium requirements are slightly higher than men's, reaching 1000 mg daily, and 1500 mg during pregnancy.
Daily Diet Needs Improvement
⒈ Consume more foods high in calcium;
⒉ Engage in more physical exercise: Exercise causes muscles to pull on each other, strongly stimulating the bones, enhancing blood circulation and metabolism, reducing calcium loss, delaying bone aging, and at the same time, aiding the absorption of calcium from the diet;
⒊ Get more sun exposure: Ultraviolet rays can promote the synthesis of vitamin D in the body, which is beneficial for calcium absorption. However, ultraviolet rays cannot penetrate glass, so you cannot get sun exposure through glass. Alternatively, use a ZZ-2 ultraviolet therapy device to irradiate the skin to promote calcium absorption.
⒋ Eat a good breakfast.
⒌ Blanch vegetables high in oxalic acid first to destroy the oxalic acid before cooking. For example: kale, broccoli, spinach, amaranth, water spinach, mustard greens, snow choy, and bamboo shoots.
Which foods are high in calcium? Many people want to supplement calcium, so let's get it from food. Do you know which foods are high in calcium? Let's take a look below?
Foods rich in calcium include dairy products, beans, dried shrimp skin, kelp, nuts, etc.
(1) The best source of calcium is dairy products. Dairy products are not only rich in calcium but also have a high absorption rate, making them an excellent source for calcium supplementation. Among foods high in calcium with good absorption, dairy products are the first choice.
(2) Egg yolks and fish and shellfish are very high in calcium. Loaches, clams, snails, and dried shrimp skin are also extremely high in calcium.
(3) Among plant-based foods, soy products and hard-shelled nuts (such as peanuts, walnuts) are good sources.
(4) Seafood such as dried shrimp skin, dried shrimp, kelp, and seaweed, as well as fish floss and meat floss made from fish with bones.
(5) Among vegetables, daylilies, radishes, mushrooms, and wood ear mushrooms have relatively high calcium content.
(6) Animal bones, such as pork and chicken bones, have high calcium content, but they are difficult to dissolve in water. Therefore, you won't get much calcium from them unless you add a little vinegar when making bone soup, which can dissolve a small amount of calcium from the bones into the soup, providing some calcium supplementation.
(7) General grains such as rice, flour, and corn have low calcium content. Some foods, such as plant-based and cereal foods, contain excessive phytic acid and oxalic acid, which can cause calcium in the food to precipitate and reduce absorption. For example, spinach has high oxalic acid; cooking spinach with tofu actually prevents the calcium in the tofu from being absorbed.
Grains, livestock and poultry meats, and fruits have low calcium content. The absorption rate of calcium from food in the body is generally low. For example, milk, which is the most easily digested and absorbed, has an absorption rate of only 50%; the absorption rate of other calcium-rich foods is even lower.
Therefore, in regions of China where rice, flour, meat, and vegetables are the main foods, calcium deficiency will be a major problem. The solution is to change eating habits and significantly increase the intake of dairy and soy products to meet the body's calcium needs from food.
For children in their growth period, they should supplement with milk and eggs daily. This not only provides a good amount of high-quality protein but also basically meets their calcium intake. Scientific cooking of food can increase calcium intake.
Here are several cooking methods for high-calcium foods:
1. You can make crispy small yellow fish. The method is: heat a wok, place scallions and ginger at the bottom, arrange the 10 cm long small yellow fish on top, add an appropriate amount of vinegar, and simmer slowly until the fish is tender, even to the point where the head and bones become crispy. This way, the entire fish becomes an edible calcium supplement.
2. Pressure-cook chicken. You can cook the chicken and chicken bones until they are very soft and tender. It is recommended to chew the cartilage and swallow it to supplement calcium.
You can also make a big bone soup. Wash the large beef bones you bought, crack or break them, place them in a pot with cold water, add the bones, bring to a boil, skim off the foam, add scallions, ginger, and cooking wine, and simmer on low heat for a long time.