Too Little Calcium, Too Much Weight
by Gail Zyla
If you’re trying to shed those last few pounds, but seem to have hit that dreaded plateau, you may want to check the amount of calcium you’re getting. Research suggests that people who don’t regularly take in enough of the bone-building mineral calcium are more likely to be overweight than their high calcium-consuming counterparts.
Scientists suspect that the weight changes may be due to calcium’s effect on certain hormones in the body. When the amount of calcium in the diet falls short, the body responds by increasing its level of a hormone that pulls calcium from bone, says Robert Heaney, MD, a calcium expert at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. That hormone also causes fat cells to switch from breaking down fat to storing it. In effect, it appears that a person who doesn’t take in enough calcium winds up with hungry fat cells, he says. Although the evidence linking calcium to body weight is modest, it is growing, says Dr. Heaney. It certainly makes sense for people with arthritis to be sure to take in plenty of calcium to maintain bone strength, but it may be even more important for people for whom weight is an issue. Excess weight may compound arthritis pain by putting added stress on joints.
“Our best evidence suggests that if you take in the amount of calcium currently recommended, you’ll be okay” – both in terms of keeping off the extra pounds and maintaining overall health, says Dr. Heaney. The Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) – the nutritional gold standard – for non-pregnant adults (men and women) age 19 to 51 is 1,000 milligrams (mg) of calcium a day. People 51 and older should shoot for 1,200 mg each day.
(Arthritis Today, Sep-Oct 2004)
