The Importance Of Calcium

A rich in calcium diet, during childhood and adolescence, is considered to be VERY IMPORTANT for building a healthy body. The daily need for calcium intake for young children is 700mg and for older children is 1300- 1700 mg. The calcium required by children comes mainly from dairy products, which apart from calcium, also offer proteins and phosphorus, which are essential to calcium metabolism. Building the highest bone mass density during childhood, constitutes one of the most important factors for the protection from fracture risk due to osteoporosis at a later age. For this reason, osteoporosis is characterized as a PAEDIATRICS condition which occurs at a much older age. In the "modern" lifestyle, the consumption of alcohol and smoking are two factors that in combination with low calcium intake during childhood and adolescence, results in the loss of bone mass as we grow old. It is important therefore that the body should take in the required amount of calcium at a younger age because up to the age of 18 , the largest amount of bone mass has already been accumulated, changing very little.