I think we all know that calcium is essential for our bodies and our growth. However, despite the media ads stating how cool it is to wear a milk mustache, many lack basic knowledge on the fact that calcium is also vital to help our muscles contract, our blood clot so we can prevent further bleeding, help our nerves carry messages to our brain, and calcium helps keep our hearts beating properly. We know a rich source is dairy products but we can get calcium from other foods as well, foods such as broccoli and rice, salmon and tuna, shrimp, beans, nuts, seeds, leafy greens, oranges, figs, okra, and several other foods that are just way too many to mention. The thing is most of us are not ingesting enough of these foods on a consistent basis, even with supplements. Calcium is clearly an abundant resource for our body. …show more content…
Calcium levels affect our neurological, cardiac and skeletal muscle function throughout the body. We face serious medical problems if the level of calcium becomes too low, a condition called hypocalcemia. Then if our levels get too high hypercalcemia takes place, another medical issue. An example of our body processing too much or too little calcium is when we look at calcitonin, a hormone produced by our thyroid. Calcitonin helps to build our bones and it activates the osteoblasts we carry by producing a decrease in calcium concentration. In contrast, when there is an increase in our calcium concentration by activating the osteoclast, this process breaks down the bone. This is when our parathyroid hormone which is produced by our parathyroid gland occurs. This is how the two hormones affect our bodies when it pertains to the various calcium levels we intake. As the calcium levels rise, the symptoms become more and more