Friday, January 21, 2011

Calcium RDI for men increased by 100mg

In my book I talk about the time lag between research, medical personal becoming aware of the change and the general population becoming aware of the change. Although via electronic media this time lag as shortened because research can now be communicated directly to the public. However I suspect the delay is now measured in years instead of decades.

Another point is that the RDI are not set in concrete and that as we uncover more of how the body works the RDI's increase.

This is what has occurred with calcium intake for men. A paper coming out in February undertook two activities. Firstly they reviewed and analyzed high quality research already published about how much calcium was lost daily from the body. This is mainly in urine as we pee it out to help balance out the sulfuric acid and urea that comes out in the urine.

Secondly the paper then estimated the loss of calcium via the skin. I am currently unsure why this was so important. Maybe it is losses through sweat, or via skin cells. Either way they did some rather robust calculations.


Their conclusion: That the calcium RDI should be 900 mg a day for men (>18 years and < 60 years). Now the current RDI is 800 mg. Therefore the calcium RDI should be increased by 100 mg. If you are reading this post you now more likely know more than your health care providers about the calcium RDI !   

No comments:

Post a Comment