Everyone knows the dangers of calcium deficiency, and both adults and children pay attention to supplementing calcium. However, people can also lack other nutrients. So how can we balance various nutrients?
1. Calcium-phosphorus imbalance "drives away" calcium
If the ratio of calcium to phosphorus in your body is imbalanced, it can lead to calcium deficiency.
Under normal circumstances, the ratio of calcium to phosphorus in the human body is 2:1. However, in reality, people often consume a large amount of phosphorus-containing foods such as carbonated drinks, cola, coffee, hamburgers, pizza, wheat germ, animal liver, and french fries. The intake of phosphorus often exceeds calcium by more than 10 times, resulting in a calcium-phosphorus ratio of 1:10-20. This severe imbalance in the ratio of calcium to phosphorus causes the excess phosphorus in the diet to "drive" calcium out of the body.
2. Excessive consumption of meat and eggs results in iron loss
Nowadays, most children love to eat various types of meat but do not like vegetables and fruits. Parents also believe that as long as they eat meat, fish, and eggs rich in iron and zinc, it doesn't matter whether they eat vegetables and fruits or not. This can lead to continuous weight gain in children and eventually cause anemia. The iron in lean meat, animal organs, and egg yolks that people ingest in their diet is mostly trivalent iron, which is not easily absorbed by the body. It can only be converted into divalent iron and fully absorbed and utilized by the body in the presence of vitamin C and acidic substances (rich in various organic acids such as malic acid, tartaric acid, and citric acid).
Vitamin C and acidic substances are most abundant in vegetables and fruits such as kiwi, lemon, fresh jujube, sour jujube, orange, strawberry, and apple. If you only eat lean meat, animal organs, egg yolks, etc., and do not eat or eat fewer vegetables and fruits, the iron in these foods cannot be absorbed and utilized by the body, resulting in a significant waste of nutrients and iron deficiency anemia.
3. Excessive consumption of fiber leads to calcium loss
If you consume too much dietary fiber, it is also not good for your stomach and intestines.
Research has shown that when the diet of two adults is changed from low-fiber refined bread to high-fiber whole grain bread, calcium (magnesium, zinc, and phosphorus) appears to be in negative balance.
4. Calcium supplementation without magnesium leads to regret
When people supplement calcium, they usually only pay attention to vitamin D and often forget to supplement magnesium. Calcium and magnesium are like a pair of twin brothers, always appearing in pairs. The ratio of calcium to magnesium is 2:1, which is most conducive to the absorption and utilization of calcium. Therefore, when supplementing calcium, remember to also supplement magnesium.
Foods rich in magnesium include nuts (such as almonds, cashews, and peanuts), soybeans, melon seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds), grains (especially black wheat, millet, and barley), and seafood (tuna, salmon, mackerel, shrimp, lobster).
5. Different ways of eating eggs result in different absorption
In terms of the absorption and digestion rate of nutrients, boiled eggs have a rate of 100%, fried eggs have a rate of 97%, tender fried eggs have a rate of 98%, old fried eggs have a rate of 81%, eggs boiled in hot water or milk have a rate of 92%, and raw eggs have a rate of 30% to 50%. Therefore, boiled eggs are the best way to eat eggs, but remember to chew slowly, otherwise it will affect absorption and digestion.
However, for children and the elderly, steamed egg custard and egg drop soup are more suitable because these two methods can break down proteins and are easily digested and absorbed.
6. Carbonated drinks should not be consumed excessively
Nowadays, when children eat, they like to drink beverages instead of water, such as cola and fruit juice. The carbonic acid in these carbonated drinks will form insoluble calcium carbonate with the calcium in the body, which will take away the calcium in the food you eat, causing calcium loss and symptoms of calcium deficiency.
7. Excessive consumption of meat and fish "consumes" calcium
High-protein diet is the cause of osteoporosis. Some people have conducted experiments: A: daily intake of 80 grams of protein will cause a loss of 37 mg of calcium; B: daily intake of 240 grams of protein with an additional 1400 mg of calcium will cause a loss of 137 mg of calcium.
This shows that additional calcium supplementation cannot prevent calcium loss caused by a high-protein diet.
This is because excessive intake of meat and fish, these acidic foods, can cause people to become acidic. The body cannot tolerate drastic changes in blood acidity, so the body will use two main alkaline substances, sodium and calcium, to neutralize it.
