Calcium
Calcium is one of the most abundant minerals in the human body, accounting for about 2% of the body’s total weight, most of it in the skeleton, while the rest is in the teeth, blood plasma, soft tissues, and extracellular fluid Extracellular Fluids, used by the body to build bone and teeth, and many important functions such as sending and receiving nerve signals, helping to secrete hormones and enzymes, maintaining a normal rate of heartbeat, blood clotting, constriction and muscle spasm. The Calcium protects against osteoporosis, especially in women. It is very important for children to have all their daily calcium needs to prevent rickets, to grow their bones naturally, and to optimize their density.
Calcium is used to treat other conditions, such as high magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium in the blood. There is also evidence that calcium helps prevent high blood pressure. Calcium and vitamin D are combined. Breast cancer in women.
lack of calcium
Calcium deficiency occurs when blood levels are lower than normal. Normally, the level of normal calcium in the blood in adults is 8.8 to 10.4 mg / dL. The person is at risk of calcium deficiency and associated symptoms at a level lower than 8.8 mg / dL . Children and adolescents usually have higher levels of calcium, while women are more at risk of calcium deficiency than men, especially at menopause, because the lack of estrogen at that age causes the thinning of women’s bones faster.
Calcium deficiency in infants
Calcium is transported from the mother to the fetus during pregnancy through calcium pumps across the placenta. This process produces higher levels of calcium in the fetus compared to the mother. When calcium transplants are transplanted across the placenta, most babies develop calcium deficiency In the blood 24 hours after birth, and return to normal levels at the age of two weeks.
Therefore, the problem of calcium deficiency in infants is a common problem, and may develop this deficiency in some infants within three days of birth or after, and the risk factors associated with the shortage and the cause is:
- Maternal diabetes.
- Small size of the baby for age.
- Drinking cow’s milk or infant formula contains high levels of phosphate.
- Neuropathy, apnea or paralysis, and irregular heart rate are symptoms of calcium deficiency in infants.
Causes of calcium deficiency
Many reasons can cause calcium deficiency, and the risk of developing it increases with age.
- Do not eat enough calcium-containing foods, especially in childhood.
- Malnutrition, or poor absorption.
- Low levels of vitamin D in the body, as vitamin D works to increase the absorption of calcium.
- Some medications can interfere with calcium and cause low absorption such as phenytoin, phenobarbital, rifampin, corticosteroids, and medications used to treat high calcium.
- Food intolerance, or sensitivity to calcium-rich foods such as lactose intolerance and milk allergies. People with milk allergies or lactose intolerance can not eat calcium-rich milk and all of its products, making them vulnerable to the risk of lack of it.
- Hormonal changes, especially in menopausal women.
- Hypothyroidism is a deficiency of thyroid glands, which lack the thyroid hormone, which regulates calcium levels in the blood.
- Genetic causes.
Symptoms of calcium deficiency
The symptoms of calcium deficiency do not usually appear immediately, but can cause serious symptoms over time. Not eating enough calcium causes the body to balance blood levels of the bones, causing time to lose calcium and osteoporosis. Come:
- Osteoporosis: Lack of calcium, especially in women and children, leads to serious health problems, including bone pain, convulsions, osteoporosis and fracture.
- Dental problems such as necrosis.
- Neurological symptoms such as confusion or confusion, hallucinations, loss of memory, numbness and tingling in the limbs.
- Facial tingling.
- Muscle spasm.
- Fingernails are fragile and weak, hair growth is slow.
- Depression.
- Vertigo and lightness in the head.
- Slow heartbeat.
Treatment of calcium deficiency
Calcium deficiency can be easily cured by increasing the intake of calcium-rich foods such as milk and its derivatives, sardines, dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, juices, soybeans, cereals or breakfast cereals or calcium-fortified corn flakes, calcium-fortified bread, The doctor may adjust calcium levels by describing calcium injections in a systematic manner. If dietary changes are not met, dietary calcium supplementation is necessary, and careful exposure to sunlight regularly increases vitamin D levels, which in turn increases Of calcium absorption.