Why is calcium so important?
Minerals are inorganic elements, such as vitamins, which can not be produced by body, but have to be entered in our organism through diet or supplements.
There is almost no chemical processes in the body that does not depend on one of the vitamins or minerals, so it makes minerals in the body no less important than vitamins, and deficiency can produce many disorders. In addition to the parts of the enzyme and coenzyme required for biochemical processes, they are the building many tissues such as bones, teeth, hair, nails and many others.
Calcium is the most spoken mineral. It is among the most abundant elements on earth, and in an adult human body weights about 1.2 kilograms.
About 99 percent of the calcium is in the bones and teeth. It is estimated that about 700 milligrams of calcium daily gets out of the bones and enters them. Unlike the calcium in the bones, calcium in teeth is not renewed, so the teeth do not heal and regenerate themselves. However, bones can be renewed, which is good to remember in case of fractures and bone diseases such as osteoporosis.
The rest of about one percent of calcium is found in the blood, lymph and body fluids, where is essential for permeability of cell membranes, blood clotting, transmission of messages between nerves and muscle contraction. Together with sodium, potassium and magnesium regulates blood pressure and water balance in the body.
All these functions outside the bones are necessary for life, so if there is a lack of calcium for these functions, it is extracted out of its depositories in which serves as a building material, such as bone. That is how osteoporosis, a disease reduction of bone mass, originates.
Given the fact that the bone tissue is dynamic and constantly renewed, bringing in sufficient amounts of calcium not only can greatly help prevent osteoporosis and osteomalacia, bone loss, but also significantly reduce the risk of some cancers (particularly colon cancer), high blood pressure and other disorders.
Lack of calcium
As calcium has a role in many functions of the body, its deficiency can cause a variety of disorders. First, if there is not enough calcium in blood, it is drawn from its storage in the bones, which causes a decrease in bone mass. Furthermore, the deficiency can produce nerves and muscles disorders, high blood pressure, depression and other related disorders and various allergies.
Among serious disorders that may arise due to lack of calcium is preeclampsia during pregnancy, which can develop into eclampsia, or toxemia during pregnancy. It's appearance of edema, headache, nausea, high blood pressure and convulsions in the last stages of pregnancy, which can be fatal to both, mother and fetus.
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