Got milk?.

Friday, March 08, 2002

Got milk?

For strong bones and healthy teeth, you should. If not milk, you should find another good source of calcium to ensure you’re getting the proper amount every day.

"Calcium is a mineral which means it’s one of those things that’s found in nature and basically, what it does is keep us upright. It’s a major component of our skeletal structure," Linda Baumann, a licensed and registered dietitian at the Austin Medical Center explains.

Margene Gunderson, director of community health service at Mower County Public Health, says "adults should be consuming 1,000 milligrams of calcium a day, kids should get 1,300 milligrams and once someone hits age 50, they need 1,200 milligrams." Baumann adds pregnant women need 1,300 milligrams because if the fetus is calcium deficient, it will take calcium from the mother’s bones.

That may sound like a lot, but Gunderson says an eight-ounce glass of milk has 400 milligrams of calcium, "so if you drink three or four servings of milk a day, you’re getting the recommended daily allowance of calcium."

She also says one cup of yogurt and one and one-half to two ounces of cheese also have approximately 400 milligrams of calcium.

Sardines, tofu and green, leafy vegetables are also considered good sources of calcium. However, one cup of cooked spinach has only 120 milligrams of calcium, "so if you’re trying to get all your calcium from spinach, you’ll be eating more than ever before.

It would take at least five cups of cooked spinach to equal the amount of calcium you get in three or four glasses of milk," Baumann says.

"Dairy products are by far the best sources of calcium because dairy calcium is most easily absorbed by the body," she explains. "If you eliminate milk from your diet, you eliminate a major source of calcium."

"One of the major problems with plant sources of calcium is that they have plant chemicals and fiber that may inhibit absorption," she says.

Though people from all age groups need to make a conscious effort to pay attention to the amount of calcium they are consuming each day, Gunderson says she’s "especially worried about teenage girls … by the time they get to be 25-years-old, their bones are already depleted."

Baumann says she also has observed "many teenage girls who don’t want to eat dairy products because they are afraid of gaining weight." However, she says, an eight-ounce glass of skim milk only has 90 calories, so if a teenage girl drinks four glasses of milk, she’s getting her daily allowance of calcium and she’s only consuming 360 calories.

"If someone eats a candy bar," Baumann says, "they aren’t getting much, if any, calcium and it has at least 360 calories."

Gunderson says "teenagers tend to drink more soda than calcium-rich drinks such as milk, malts and shakes and four cans of soda have more calories than four servings of milk."

"Pop has no nutritional value and a lot of people think nothing of drinking four cans of pop," Baumann says, dismayed.

Many companies are adding calcium to their products, such as orange juice, grape juice and frozen yogurt, and Baumann says many breakfast cereals, especially Total, have a high amount of calcium.

To encourage children to consume more dairy products, milk companies have started producing flavored milks. Baumann says she doesn’t know if the strawberry-flavored milk and banana-flavored milk "are catching on, but if that’s what we have to do to get kids to drink milk then that’s what we have to do."

Even lactose-intolerant people should be conscientious about incorporating calcium into their diet. Gunderson says most lactose-intolerant people can tolerate some milk "and if they can drink one cup of milk and tolerate it, we recommend they do that."

"Lactose-intolerant people also need to read labels because whole milk is usually better tolerated than skim milk and cheese is probably more tolerable than milk," Gunderson says. "If you’re lactose-intolerant and looking at yogurt, look for labels that say live and active cultures because that seems to be easier for people to tolerate."

"There are also oral enzyme products that you take before you consume dairy products to ease the problems with gas and bloating that lactose-intolerant people can have, such as Lactaid, Lactrase and Dairyese."

Though calcium supplements are a way to add the mineral to your diet, Baumann says they aren’t the same as drinking a glass of milk. "People need to take them properly, and many probably don’t," she explains. "Supplements need to be taken with food and liquid because otherwise, it’s not going to dissolve."

"A calcium supplement taken with a glass of water isn’t going to do anything. We need to fool our bodies into thinking it’s part of the food that we’re eating," she says.

Gunderson says calcium citrate and calcium carbonate are the two types of calcium best absorbed by the body. Baumann warns people to stay away from products such as Dolomite and Bone Meal because "they are not recommended because they may contain toxic substances and less costly brands of calcium may contain one of the two."

"People have alternatives, but nothing beats a good old glass of milk," Baumann says. "I look at it as a form of health insurance. If you don’t do it, you end up with osteoporosis down the road. Having your bones riddled with holes is a horrible, horrible problem."

"If children don’t get enough calcium in the first years of their life, their secondary teeth come in decayed," she adds. "If you eat a broad spectrum of foods, though, you should be getting an adequate calcium intake."

Gunderson also says calcium helps maintain low blood pressure, the function of the muscles and says there is even evidence it aids in blood clotting.

For optimum calcium absorption, Gunderson says people should avoid caffeinated products, tobacco products and consumption of alchohol because they can deplete the bones of calcium "It’s just one more reason to stop smoking," she says.

Call Amanda L. Rohde at 434-2214 or e-mail her at amanda.rohde@austindailyherald.com