now a MYTH -- A woman should get extra calcium during pregnancy and in
the breastfeeding months to avoid osteoporosis later in life.

Prentice, A. -- "It's taken me five years to accept this and it'll be
five years before everyone else does."

Calcium supplements for women of childbearing age ARE USELESS.

Bone mass in the mothers and babies was not improved when Gambian women
with calcium poor diets were give supplemental calcium.

Gambians had as many as 10 babies and breast fed each child much longer
than English women with calcium rich diets who generally have only two
children and breast fed little or not at all.

"British women are more likely to get osteoporosis than the Gambians
later in life."

(but it was suggested that calcium supplementation in pregnancy may help
reduce hypertension and the chances for pre-eclampsia and eclampsia)

In a nutshell: Research over the last four years has found no firm link
betweeen low calcium intake and bone density problems.