Many people, especially women, know that adequate calcium intake is important to health. Calcium is an essential nutrient the body needs everyday. It is not only for women but also crucial for children, adolescents, adults, and older people. The majority of calcium in the body makes up your bones and teeth and keeps their strength. Calcium, aside from being important for bone health is also needed to regulate certain body functions. Without calcium, muscles would not contract normally, blood would not clot, and nerves would be unable to carry messages.

Calcium and bone health go hand-in-hand. Increasing scientific evidence indicates that adequate calcium intake reduces the risk of several major chronic diseases, most notably osteoporosis, a potentially crippling disease of thin and fragile bones. Optimal intake of calcium throughout life, from early childhood and adolescence through the post-menopausal and late adult years, reduces the risk of osteoporosis. Researches being conducted in the US suggest that calcium also helps protect against colon cancer, high blood pressure, recurring pre-menstrual syndrome, and possibly cardiovascular disease and kidney stones.

One's calcium needs extend throughout lifetime. It is essential during childhood to young adulthood, the years that bones are forming and growing. However, bones continue to accumulate calcium and become stronger even after we have stopped growing. The calcium that one provides to his/her bones when young is one factor in determining how they will hold up later in life.

Gender plays a significant role in the need for calcium. Pregnancy increases calcium requirements because of the alterations in calcium absorption and metabolism occur throughout pregnancy and added calcium needs of the developing baby. Lactating women need calcium to meet their own needs and the requirements for milk production. During menopause and post menopause, the body produces much less estrogen, increasing the risk of osteoporosis, which in turn increases calcium needs.

Older adults - both women and men - over the age of 65 years need more calcium to combat calcium deficiencies. A certain amount of bone loss is a normal consequence of aging. In addition, a decrease in physical activity among the elderly contributes to the problem of combating declining bone strength.

For a Filipino reference man, his calcium requirement is 500 mg, while that of a young child and adolescents is about 600-700 mg. Good sources of calcium are milk and milk products, dilis (dried and fresh), sardines with bones, leafy vegetables, soybeans, and a few new calcium-fortified foods such as juice and others.

Remember that calcium is essential to good health. You also need exercise and a balanced and varied diet to help reduce the risk of disease and promote health.