Calcium for your health
Calcium is an essential mineral that our body cannot produce itself. It must therefore be ingested in sufficient quantities with food. The mineral, which is mainly found in the bones and teeth, not only serves to strengthen them, but also fulfils numerous other important tasks in our body.
Component of bones and teeth
The body's own calcium is 99 % bound as hydroxyapatite. This mineral keeps the bones and teeth stable and strong. Hydroxyapatite is a compound of calcium and phosphate that makes up more than 50 per cent of the bones. Due to the size of our musculoskeletal system, it is not surprising that an adult carries around one kilogram of calcium in his or her bones. Together with collagen, the organic component of our bones, hydroxyapatite gives our bones their hardness and strength. The bones have a storage function for calcium: if there is a calcium deficiency in the blood, calcium is released from the bones to keep the calcium level in the blood constant. However, the strength of the bones suffers, they become soft and brittle due to decalcification, also called osteoporosis. Older people in particular are prone to osteoporosis.
Because 99 percent of calcium is bound in the skeleton and in tooth enamel, it is also called the "bone mineral".
The extracellular fluid also contains an - albeit small - proportion of calcium ions. Calcium is constantly exchanged between this fluid and the skeleton. This is for bone remodelling - a process in which old bone tissue is slowly removed and new bone tissue is built up. You don't notice anything, it happens very slowly. However, you would notice if this replacement and the accompanying bone remodelling did NOT take place, because this repair mechanism keeps the skeleton stable for longer.
Hydroxyapatite also gives our teeth their hardness and strength: tooth enamel, the hardest material in our body, is 95 % made of this mineral and protects the underlying dentin and pulp. However, the stable protective coating can be attacked and destroyed by fruit acids, which can lead to caries. To counteract this, some dental care products contain calcium compounds that promote the re-storage of minerals in the tooth enamel, remineralisation.
Component of the muscle cells
Calcium is jointly responsible for muscle contraction, and thus for the fact that your limbs function and movement sequences can be implemented. It also ensures that the most important muscle in the human body, your heart, beats properly. Only in the interaction of calcium and magnesium, which ensure muscle contraction and relaxation, can movements be carried out correctly.
Are you active in sports? Then you can certainly sing a song about it.... Calcium influences our physical performance. You don't have to run a marathon to feel this. Even during normal sporting activities you will quickly notice if your body lacks calcium, because then your muscles relax and regenerate less easily, you are more susceptible to cramps and injuries, the muscles have less strength and consequently contract less well - and this affects your performance. It's also counterproductive for your training, because it reduces muscle growth.
Electrical excitation of nerve cells
Calcium ensures that the signal transmission between the cells runs correctly. On a physical level, this allows your muscles to contract when needed and coordinates movement sequences. On a neurological level, a calcium deficiency can cause dysfunctions that, in severe cases, manifest themselves in psychoses or hallucinations.
Blood clotting
Calcium is needed for blood clotting. Blood clotting, medically called haemostasis, is the process that stops bleeding and closes the wound after an injury. Calcium is essential for the clotting process, because only in its presence can one of the blood clotting factors transform into its active form.
Acid-base balance
Calcium is an important component in the regulation of the acid-base balance. If the blood is too acidic, for example, important metabolic processes can only take place to a limited extent. By releasing calcium from the bones, the pH value of the blood is raised back to a healthy level.
Calcium and phosphate
The structure of bones and teeth is not determined by calcium alone, but is equally dependent on phosphate. The mineral hydroxyapatite, a hydroxylated calcium phosphate salt, is a calcium-phosphate compound. Only when both minerals are sufficiently present in the body is healthy development of bones and teeth possible.
Calcium and vitamin D
If you consistently consume the required daily dose of calcium, calcium enters the blood passively by diffusion through the intestinal wall. If your intake is reduced, calcium must be actively absorbed, and vitamin D is needed to support this process. As a messenger substance, vitamin D stimulates the intestinal cells to absorb more calcium and pass it on to the blood. If the body is sufficiently supplied with vitamin D, calcium absorption can thus be increased by more than 75 percent.
Two other calcium-dependent metabolic processes are supported by vitamin D: the regulation of the calcium balance and the mineralisation of the bones.
Calcium and magnesium
For a long time, even among experts, it was assumed that calcium and magnesium should not be taken together because they interfere with each other's absorption in the intestine. However, this is not the case, as absorption from the intestine takes place via different transport systems. On the contrary: if both minerals are not supplied to the body in sufficient quantities, a deficiency of one or both minerals can occur. Thus, a magnesium deficit can lead to a calcium deficiency with the typical symptoms despite an adequate supply of calcium. Only when the magnesium deficiency is corrected do the calcium deficiency symptoms subside.
Calcium and osteoporosis
Dietary calcium intake is an important factor in the development of osteoporosis. To prevent the disease, it is important to optimise maximum bone mass at a young age and thus minimise bone loss in old age. Besides vitamin D and physical activity, calcium intake plays an important role in this process.
Conclusion
The essential mineral calcium is indispensable for our body. As an important component of bones and teeth, it ensures strength and stability. Muscle contractions and movement processes only function with a sufficient supply of calcium. Calcium ensures correct signal transmission between the cells and is necessary for blood clotting and the regulation of the acid-base balance. The effects of the minerals calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and vitamin D are closely linked.
