What is the Thought That Wakes You?*
I found myself waking this morning with one thought:
SHHOVFD!
I didn't adequately address our body's need for proper calcium absorption in my talk on Thursday. To those generous spirits present during the Mineral Needs class at our coop, thanks for bearing with me as I waded through some of our key mineral needs provided by roots and brassicas... I enjoyed cooking with you all!
The amazing thing about calcium is that almost everyone consumes enough, they are missing the cofactors that allow the body to absorb and use it.
While I love my mom's slogan "Build Bone Density, Drink Milk with Intensity", my own experiences with my milk-chugging husband's assorted broken bones has cemented for me that while he may admittedly be a bit clumsy, we also have to consider many other important factors that affect his absorption!
So what exactly does that acronym that I woke up remembering mean?
Here are seven cofactors to keep in mind for proper absorption and use of calcium in your body:
Systematic pH
This is how calcium is balanced in the body*(see below for more details if you really want to get into the nitty gritty). An overally simplified version is thinking about an alkaline state being rich in calcium, which causes deposits to be made in the bone, an acidic state pulling calcium out of bones & tissues.
Hydration
Thanks to water our body is able to transport electrolytes & calcium in & out of the cells.
Hormone Regulation
Parathyroid hormone: regulates blood calcium levels
Calcitonin: inhibits osteoclastic (bone breaking down) activity, decreasing blood calcium levels in the blood
Adrenal hormone: mineral corticoids control sodium and potassium homeostasis
Estrogen: inhibits ostoclastic activity
Progesterone: promotes ostoblastic (bone building) activity
Testosterone: precursor to Estrogen & Progesterone
Other Minerals
potassium, manganese, boron, zinc & copper: increase absorption of calcium in the digestive tract
Vitamins
Vitamin D works with Parathyroid hormone to increase calcium in blood serum by pulling calcium from bone & tissue
Essential Fatty Acids
Think about the fats that we don't always get in the diet we're exposed to today- worth considering Omega -3s (this is worthy of another blog post to share all the gory details of fat consumption. We need to reframe the "BAD FAT" idea.) Fats are essential to increase calcium levels in tissues & transport calcium across cell membrane into cells.
Digestion
All the cofactors in the world are not going to help if we are not eating in a relaxed (parasympathetic) state and if we are not consuming enough calcium! [2500 mg/day is considered the tolerable upper limit of calcium consumption]
*If you wish... geek out here: a recent essay I wrote about calcium and bone remodeling.
Bone protects organs and soft tissues, provides our body’s structural support and produces blood cells. Arguably, one of the most critical and interesting roles it plays is in calcium homeostasis.
Bone remodeling is the continuous destruction of old bone by osteoclasts, and the rebuilding/ repair by osteoblasts which build cartilage into bone. Osteocytes, primary bone cells, maintain bone tissue. Calcium is only made available for tissues when bone is broken down in this process of bone remodeling; triggered by parathyroid hormone, which responsible for freeing up calcium from the bone. The parathyroid hormone increases osteoclast activity; moving more calcium into the blood, decreasing calcium loss in urine/feces, and pulling calcium from digestion. Calcium (alkaline) is released from the bone and the deposited into the blood when blood pH is too low (acidic). When blood pH becomes too high (alkaline) calcium is deposited from the blood into the bone by the thyroid hormone, Calcitonin, which inhibits osteoclast activity and decreases blood calcium levels. Other hormones that may affect bone formation and blood balance, include adrenal hormones (mineralocorticoids control sodium and potassium homeostasis), estrogen (inhibits osteoclastic activity), and progesterone (promotes osteoblastic activity) In this way, bone helps buffer blood pH through calcium.
Normal bone growth, function, and regulation of blood pH all depends on working towards balancing the effects of minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, fluoride and manganese), vitamins (A,C,D, K, B12), hormones (human growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor, insulin, thyroid hormone, parathyroid hormones, calcitonin), exercise, and aging.
With so many different cofactors in calcium homeostasis it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the basic question: how can we build strong bones? It may be more complex than a milk moustache.
Nutritional Therapy Association (2018). Minerals Student Guide. Olympia, WA: Author.
Introduction to the Human Body (2015). Chapter 6: Skeletal System. Danvers, MA: Tortora & Derrickson.
Staying Healthy With Nutrition (2006). Chapter 6: Minerals. New York, New York: Haas & Levin
[*For the record, this phrase was coined by one of the cooks, Mildred Waterfall, who moonlights at the Edgewater Farm kitchen.]