calcium
You have more calcium in your body than any other mineral. Calcium has many important jobs. The body stores more than 99 percent of its calcium in the bones and teeth to help make and keep them strong. The rest is throughout the body in blood, muscle and the fluid between cells. Your body needs calcium to help muscles and blood vessels contract and expand, to secrete hormones and enzymes and to send messages through the nervous system.
It is important to get plenty of calcium in the foods you eat. Foods rich in calcium include
* Dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt
* Leafy, green vegetables
* Fish with soft bones that you eat, such as canned sardines and salmon
* Calcium-enriched foods such as breakfast cereals, fruit juices, soy and rice drinks, and tofu. Check the product labels.
The exact amount of calcium you need depends on your age and other factors. Growing children and teenagers need more calcium than young adults. Older women need plenty of calcium to prevent osteoporosis. People who do not eat enough high-calcium foods should take a calcium supplement.
Osteoporosis is a disease that thins and weakens the bones. Your bones become fragile and break easily, especially the bones in the hip, spine, and wrist. In the United States, millions of people either already have osteoporosis or are at high risk due to low bone mass.
Anyone can develop osteoporosis, but it is more common in older women. Risk factors include
* Getting older
* Being small and thin
* Having a family history of osteoporosis
* Taking certain medicines
* Being a white or Asian woman
* Having low bone density
Osteoporosis is a silent disease. You might not know you have it until you break a bone. A bone mineral density test is the best way to check your bone health.
To keep bones strong, eat a diet rich in calcium and vitamin D, exercise, and do not smoke. If needed, medicines can also help. It is also important to try to avoid falling down. Falls are the number one cause of fractures in older adults.
zinc
?Zinc, one of the antioxidant minerals, is important for hundreds of body processes, including maintaining normal taste and smell, regulating growth, and promoting wound healing. research has revealed that female bodybuilders, in particular, don’t get enough zinc in their diets. Zinc is an important mineral for people who work out. As you exercise, zinc helps clear lactic acid buildup in the blood. In addition, zinc supplementation (25 mg a day) has been shown to protect immunity during periods of intense training. There is not much research on zinc supplementation and exercise performance. Interestingly, though, one study shows that if you’re an endurance athlete who follows a diet that is rich in carbohydrate but low in protein and fat, you could be setting yourself up for a zinc deficiency, resulting in a loss of too much body weight, greater fatigue, and poor endurance. Too much zinc might be a bad thing, however. It has been associated with lower levels of good cholesterol (HDL) and thus may increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. What’s more, excess zinc over time may create mineral imbalances and produce undesirable changes in two substances involved in calcium metabolism: calcitonin, a hormone that boosts calcium in bones by drawing it from soft tissue, and osteocalcin, the key noncollagen protein needed to help harden bone. By eating zinc-rich foods, you can get just the right amount, which is 8 milligrams a day for women and 11 milligrams a day for men. The best sources of zinc are meat, eggs, seafood (especially oysters), and whole grains. If you restrict your intake of meat, taking a multivitamin-multimineral each day will help fill in the nutritional blanks.
- Published in Blog, Nutrition, supplements, Women