The body contains more calcium than any other mineral and requires calcium to maintain healthy bones and perform many basic functions. Food sources of calcium include dairy products such as milk, yogurt and cheese, as well as spinach, kale, turnip greens, tofu and fortified cereals. Children, teenagers and older adults need the most calcium to build and maintain healthy bones.
Basic Body Functions
Calcium plays an essential role in many basic body functions, including nerve transmission, vascular contraction and vasodilation, muscle function, hormonal secretion and intracellular signaling. The body uses only 1 percent of its calcium stores for these functions. Bone tissue provides large stores of calcium that enable the body to regulate calcium concentrations in the blood, muscle and fluids.
Bone Health
The body stores 99 percent of its calcium in the bones and teeth. Insufficient calcium intake might lead to bone breakdown. Consuming sufficient calcium throughout childhood and into early adulthood allows your bones to grow to a high peak mass, reducing your risk for osteoporosis later in life. Children and teenagers ages 9 to 18 should get 1,300 mg of calcium per day. Older adults, including women 51 and over and men 71 and over, need at least 1,200 mg of calcium per day to maintain bone density and slow bone loss. Calcium and vitamin D supplements can reduce fractures and bone loss associated with already developed osteoporosis.
Heart Disease and Blood Pressure
Some studies suggest that calcium decreases the absorption of lipids in the intestinal tract, lowering blood cholesterol levels and reducing your risk for cardiovascular disease. Evidence remains inconclusive about calcium's relationship to heart disease, however, notes the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements. Calcium appears to reduce blood pressure in people with hypertension, while it has no significant affect on other people.
Weight Control
Research has found a connection between higher calcium intakes and reduced weight gain or lower body weights, according to the NIH. Calcium might discourage fat accumulation and also might bind to fat in the intestinal tract and prevent the body from absorbing it. Clinical trials have found no significant connection between calcium and weight reduction, however.
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