When I was a baby, I was fat. Chubby. What have you. Like, when I was months old. As a reminder, my family through my adolescence mentioned that I was so chubby the pediatrician that my parents took me to put me on a skim milk diet. Well, I guess it was a running joke as well.
Up until I was say ten, eleven years old, we got milk delivered to us every Saturday at noon from the dairy farm down the road. I can still remember the milk man come in the milk truck and put THE milk in THE milk box next to the front door. As I was growing up, my dad said I began to resemble the milk man. He was still at work during those milk deliveries after all.
Apparently, that local milk was whole fat because I was indeed like a Michelin man baby. Or better yet, the Stay Puft Marshmallow man…!
So yeah, I think the skim milk fixed the problem.
Also during my adolescent years, milk in and of itself was giving me somewhat of an upset stomach in the mornings. I am not lactose intolerant, but for some reason then it was a problem. So, my mom thought it would be a good idea to mix my milk with, um, coffee. Yes yes yes, I was drinking coffee as a small child. I won’t even get into when I was introduced to alcohol. A little FYI, my parents never abused any substances, and this was a long time ago. Things are a bit weird presently in society...about everything. I'm sure this upbringing today would be closer to my parents having child protective services called on them rather than being awarded the parents of the year award. But it was ok back then. And I am ok now...I swear.
Fast forward to my college days when I was in the twilight of my soft drinking phase. In fact, I drank more sugary soda than I did water for the majority of my adolescence. By my senior year enough was enough. I made the switch to drinking mainly water and milk. Skim milk that is. I believe the milk decision was influenced by some of my then roommates whom still drank the stuff. Although it’s been a long time now so I don't exactly remember. Oh...on the weekends, there was lots of beer and liquor but I was on the right track during the week at least.
So, at 21 years old is when my CALCIUM intake jumped up considerably I would say. Which is good. But, I missed out on many years of calcium ingestion, which is bad. Kinda...
The thing about time, and life, and life and time, is that we all get a chance to fine tune things. That is if you continue to focus on them. Medical scientists and doctors are doing such things. Every so often they make new discoveries that will enhance the quality of our lives. And potentially keep us healthier for longer to reduce medical care costs. The thought being, perhaps, the healthier the general public is, the more we can focus on treating people with more serious illness.
You are what you eat and drink. And if you eat highly nutritious meals, you stand a good chance of having a long healthy life.
Prior to the pandemic, I had to escort my mom to see a leading endocrinologist at a leading hospital in NYC. The same mother whom was feeding me coffee as a youngster, was an avid coffee drinker herself. And not so much with the calcium intake. Why is this important to note...?
Well, caffeine strips calcium from your body to the tune of 6 milligrams per 100 milligrams of caffeine. One cup of coffee contains about 100 mg's of caffeine. A small coffee at your local coffee house is 12oz, or 1.5 cups.
Guess where caffeine will pull calcium from if you do not have enough of it from your diet...? YOUR BONES. Your bones people...! It gets stripped from your bones and literally goes down the toilet since the disposed calcium flees the body via urine.
It is recommended most adolescents, and adults, should get north of 1000mg per day according to these very same scientists (see link below). You may be thinking to yourself, 6 mg is not a lot. Consider that those 1000+ mg's of calcium is potentially used by your body for many difference processes. And, absorption of calcium into your body is not one to one. That is to say, your body will not absorb all those 1000+ mg's of calcium. So taking away calcium is not where it’s at. Not a good idea long term.
Calcium Recommendations | International Osteoporosis Foundation
If you have calcium going out, and not much going in this can be a recipe for disaster. In my mother’s case, it led to osteoporosis. Or, the thinning of her bones. Or decrease in bone density from her skeletal structure. The worse of her symptoms had to have been the FOUR fractured vertebrae she endured on THREE separate occasions. One from fainting after a very long and strenuous day. One from picking my dad up from the floor when he was really sick with the flu. One from aggressively sneezing I believe...seriously. All three are not exactly the blunt force traumas you would expect.
As her son, I think the majority of those could have been avoided. But my mom is stubborn and still thinks she is 30 years old...smh.
Over the years when she was drinking 2+ cups of coffee per day, and as stated, was hardly taking in any calcium. Couple that with a genetic and gender predisposition to osteoporosis and boom.
With a net calcium intake most likely near zero, or in the negative, calcium was slowly being leeched from her bones over time. If I recall, this diagnosis started in her late 40's. Present day, after meeting with the leading endocrinologist, she has to make sure and get 1200 mg of calcium per day, and was prescribed some gnarly bone density medications on top of that to help things stabilize. But, she is reluctant to take the drugs due to the crazy side effects. The thing is, due to her history of vertebral fractures, she may not have a choice.
To be very blunt, keeping our bone density correct overtime is a BIG deal. Two main factors help this matter: adhering to the calcium intake recommendations from the link above, and weight bearing exercise. Preferably starting from youth and into old age.
I once read an article, written by medical scientists, which postulated that proper calcium intake and weight bearing exercise in our youth establishes a strong base in terms of bone density that lasts deep into old age. In other words, keeping your calcium intake on point, and weight training in your youth goes a long way towards maintaining safe bone density levels long term.
After that visit to the NYC doctor, I took stock of my own calcium intake and realized that for nearly a decade, I was only getting in about half. So even I had to adjust what I ate to accommodate more dairy...which is dense in calcium of course.
Here is a guide:
→ 1 cup milk | 280-300 mg of calcium
→ 1 cup yogurt | ~240 mg of calcium*
→ 1 cup kefir | 390 mg of calcium
→ 1 oz Swiss | ~150 mg of calcium
→ 1 oz Parmesan | ~240 mg of calcium
*Greek yogurt has ~210 mg of calcium, regular yogurt ~280 mg of calcium.
If none of above are your fancy then you could supplement calcium, but this is a slippery slope let me tell you. As always, it is best to get micronutrients from food. Of course, calcium is present from other food sources but not nearly as much as from dairy.
Also, there are other aspects of one’s bone health that go beyond just weight training and calcium intake. Such as your levels of magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin K. However, if you have a nutritionally dense diet including fruits and vegetables, then you should be getting a sufficient amount of magnesium and vitamin K. If you live nearer the equator, you will likely get a sufficient amount of vitamin D year round. If not, you may have to supplement (vitamin D) like I do since I live in the northeast of the United States.
Bone health is important. Calcium intake is important. One main cause of frailty in older people may be the loss of bone mass over time due to lack of calcium intake, as well as a lack of structured weight bearing exercise throughout their lives.
I'd like to think these are why medical professionals over the years have been pushing the calcium (and exercise) recommendations as they have.
But I am drinking coffee as I write this. I'm such a bad boy...
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