Your teeth and bones store the calcium minerals that you consume from food, for the body’s use when needed. When your diet lacks calcium, these stores will be tapped to produce new bone cells. Your body can’t fully utilize calcium, however, without the presence of vitamin D, which facilitates mineral absorption during digestion. Shortages of this mineral and vitamin can lead to skeletal, jawbone and tooth loss, broken bones and the health complications they can cause.
Children’s Health
Sufficient vitamin D and calcium help children develop the permanent teeth and bone mass that will carry them through adulthood. These nutrients are the raw materials needed to form tooth enamel and bone cells, which grow at an accelerated rate in children and adolescents. Vitamin and mineral deficiency can cause abnormal growth, tooth deformities or soft bones, known as rickets. Because peak bone mass growth ends as adulthood begins, at about age 18, daily intakes of vitamin D and calcium in youth are critical to the integrity and longevity of healthy bones and teeth as people age.
Adult Health
In maturity, bones revitalize themselves through a process called remodeling, in which calcium is removed from storage and new cells are produced. If you don’t replenish your calcium stores or if your absorption decreases due to insufficient vitamin D, your body will take away more bone minerals than it can replace with new cells. This loss of bone mineral density, or bone mass, cannot be recovered, and bone strength diminishes. When jawbone is lost, tooth loss may follow. When skeletal bone mass decreases, fractures of the hip, vertebrae and other bones become more likely. Health consequences range from speech and dietary changes to premature death. The National Osteoporosis Foundation reports that nearly 25 percent of over-50 adults die within a year of fracturing a hip.
Calcium Allowance
Achieving recommended daily allowances of calcium helps you preserve your bone and teeth health. Failing to do so raises the risk of bone and periodontal diseases. Calcium needs shift over the years, so the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggests intakes of 1,300 mg of calcium for adolescents ages 9 to 18; 1,000 mg of calcium for adults 19 to 50; 1,200 mg of calcium per day for adults ages 51 and up.
Vitamin D Requirements
Because your body makes some vitamin D when skin is exposed to sunlight, intake recommendations reflect the added amount you need to get from food. Even if you achieve suggested calcium intakes, vitamin D deficiency can interfere with mineral absorption and allow rickets or osteoporosis to develop. The USDA advises daily intakes of 15 micrograms of vitamin D in addition to sun-generated amounts for all ages.
References
- Office of Dietary Supplements: Calcium
- “The Journal of the American Medical Association”; Periodontal Disease; Janet M. Torpy, M.D.; February 2008
- National Osteoporosis Foundation: Vitamin D and Bone Health
- National Osteoporosis Foundation: Fast Facts
- U.S. Department of Agriculture; Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010; December 2010
