Calcium and iron for healthy body ! The Problem of Iron Deficiency
Calcium and iron for healthy body! The Problem of Iron Deficiency | Everyone knows that calcium is necessary for healthy teeth and bones. But not everyone realizes that many people in this world could be at risk from calcium deficiency. A recent survey showed that many young teenagers are eating junk food diets that are extremely inadequate sources of calcium.
One scientist found that seventy-one per cent of young teenage girls would be calcium deficient, were it not for the calcium that has by law to be added to white bread.
Calcium and iron for healthy body! The Problem of Iron Deficiency
This is obviously a worrying state of affairs, particularly so when you consider that there have been recent
attempts to ‘relax’ the law as far as adding calcium to white bread is concerned.
Calcium, the Body Builder
Meat is not a very good source of calcium, so cutting it out should not cause you any undue worry. However everyone, whether they eat meat or not, should pay special attention to getting enough calcium in their diet.
Main sources of calcium are milk, cheese, bread and flour (if fortified and green vegetables. Like other minerals and vitamins calcium works with other dietary factors that increase or decrease the rate at which the body absorbs it. For example, some form of acid needs to be present for its proper assimilation, otherwise it cannot be
dissolved into a water-soluble form and subsequently absorbed.
Calcium and iron for healthy body! Getting the Calcium You Need
in the duodenum. Also adequate amounts of Vitamin D are required to regulate the calcium balance in the blood. A good supply of Phosphorus Vitamin A and Vitamin C are also needed The Recommended Daily Allowances for calcium are shown on page 210 in the Calcium Calculator.
Ten good sources of calcium are also given, and the Nutrition Checker system will allow you to work out the percentage of your RDA. for any food that you have information about (note – the British Dietetic Association does not recommend skim milk for children under 5 years of age, sono data is given. Dried milk is also unsuitable unless modified for infant use).
The Problem of Iron Deficiency
Lack of iron is the most common nutritional deficiency in this country. Once again, the fundamental cause is a poor basic diet, with an over-reliance on highly refined foods. In extreme form, iron deficiency will result in anaemia, whose symptoms may include pale skin abnormal fatigue constipation, brittle nails, and difficulty
in breathing Nevertheless, the body manages its iron supply remarkably well.
In normal circumstances, only about ten per cent of the iron in the diet will be absorbed, but in circumstances of deficiency thebody will compensate by absorbing more. Also, the body will recycle its own supply of iron, generally only losing small amounts.
Since over half of the body’s supply of iron is normally found as haemoglobin in the blood, any loss of blood will deplete the body’s store of iron. Haemoglobin has the amazing quality of increasing the amount of oxygen that the blood can carry by forty times! Thus iron ensures that all our tissues get their essential supply of oxygen and so helps us to increase our resistance to stress and infection.
Calcium and iron for healthy body! Helthy Ironman
Iron is also needed to form myoglobin, which is only found in muscle tissue. And performs the same function as haemoglobin as it transports oxygen to the cells of our muscles as they exercise and contract. Vitamins C and E help the body process iron in the diet as do citric acid calcium and sulphur-containing amino acids Interestingly
the use of iron cooking utensils will provide a dramatic increase in the amount of iron found in foods cooked in them.
It has been calculated that if spaghetti sauce is cooked for three hours in an iron pan it will contain twenty nine times as much iron as it would have contained if it had been cooked in glassware However, since the dietary requirement for iron is basically a topping up function it should be noted that it is possible to suffer from an overdose of iron This may be caused by either a personal metabolic problem or from excessive and prolonged dietary supplementation AS always the best answer for normal individuals is to ensure that their diet naturally provides an optimum quantity of the element.
Calcium and iron for healthy body! Where to Find Iron
About one quarter of the iron in the average meat eater’s diet is supplied by certain forms of meat so cutting it out could potentially leave you with a twenty-five per cent shortfall — that is if you dont eat anything else to replace your meat with! The main sources of iron in the diet are bread flour and other cereal products potatoes
and green leafy vegetables Some foods are extremely good sources of iron – such as prune juice (10mg in 256 grams), rolled outs (4.5mg in 100 grams), brewers yeast powder (4.3mg in 26 grams, dried apricots 14.Img in 100 grams), raisins (3.5mg in 100 grams), plain chocolate (2,4mg in 100 grams and broccoli (1.5mg in 100 grams).
Pls Also Read “What Our Body Needs?”
