Got Calcium?

Someone’s hand moving to scroll through this blog post is possible because of a mineral that both gives bones their strength and allows muscles to move: calcium. As the most abundant mineral in our bodies, it’s essential for lots of important functions. It’s found in many foods, medicines, and dietary supplements. Calcium keeps your bones strong, allows your muscles to move, and is important for many other bodily functions. The element is found in foods, medicines, and the world around us. Credit: Compound Interest CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Click to enlarge. Committed to Critical Duties For athletes, calcium is especially essential for muscle movement and repairing fractured bones resulting from sports injuries. Credit: iStock. Most calcium in your body is stored in bones and teeth as a solid, inorganic calcium-phosphate matrix, providing them with their structure and hardness. The body is constantly remodeling bones, meaning it pulls calcium from them and then redeposits some back to form new bone. This bone remodeling is how bones change size during growth and repair damage when broken. It’s also an important process to help the body maintain appropriate blood levels of calcium and other minerals that the body stores in bone. Channeling Your Inner Calcium Other parts of your body like blood and tissue contain ionized, or electrically charged, calcium. It’s a tiny fraction of your total calcium, but it’s incredibly important for keeping your b...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Molecular Structures Cellular Processes Diseases Proteins Source Type: blogs