Have you ever noticed older people with stooped shoulders or bent backs? Have you seen the commercials with an old lady falling and breaking a hip? Or perhaps you remember commercials telling you to drink more milk for stronger bones. Many people know that calcium has something to do with bones and posture and osteoporosis but don’t understand how it relates to their body.Before we talk about osteoporosis, let’s learn more about your bones. Most people think of their bones as being sturdy, strong and never changing. However, your bones are constantly losing bone mass and then remaking new bone. When you are young, your body makes more bone than is broken down, so you actually increase your bone mass. As you age, production of new bone material slows. Your bone mass will naturally decrease. When this happens, your body must call upon its stores of previously made bone mass to make more bone.
This is where calcium comes in. Your body uses this mineral to make new bone mass. However, your body doesn’t make calcium, so it relies on your diet to make up for the missing mineral. Calcium is also used throughout your body for different functions like sending messages through the nervous system, regulating heart rate, and helping your muscles contract. If your body cannot get enough calcium for these functions, it will take the calcium from your bones. This will become important later as we look at what exactly osteoporosis is and how it affects you specifically.
