Mark,

At 02:42 PM 12/24/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
 Virtually no foods are rich enough in calcium that they
>can be consumed in sufficient amounts to satisfy a growing child's need for
>calcium. You'll have to find a good, milk-free supplement.

I really think we all have been sold a bill of goods on this calcium
business.  I read a study looking at the dietary habits of the Chinese by
region, and the study's agenda was quite different from considering milk or
calcium, but it was reported that the average Chinese person only gets two
servings of dairy a year.  Now, wouldn't you think they all would have
osteoporosis if milk were the only decent source?

Calcium is so important to the basic chemistry inside and between cells,
that all the concentration on bones may need to be viewed carefully.  There
must be a question of bioavailability to the cell, and perhaps the body will
borrow calcium from the bones if it is having trouble metabolically
somewhere else, but what factors could influence that?  It is terribly
important, in my thinking, to consider the body an ecological system, and to
realize that some effects can be secondary, or tertiary, and may not be
correctable by a direct hit supplementally, without dysregulating something
else.  Scientists will admit readily that they do not understand what the
levels of calcium in the blood signify, nor much understand the significance
of its levels in urine.  Should we get our advice about calcium from people
who market it in one form or another?

Susan
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