Calcium, which we’ve been urged for decades to augment our diet with in order to prevent osteoporosis, is now being linked to higher risk of heart attacks and kidney stones. Not the calcium found in food, mind you, but the supplement. Nonetheless, experts remain worried that we fail to consume enough calcium in our diets, and warn that we compensate by borrowing “from the skeleton”–a scary thought long-term. Melinda Beck goes over the details in her latest WSJ “Health Journal” entry, and it’s well worth understanding the issue since you will hopefully be needing your bones for a long time to come.
This all smacks of the woeful modern mindset that everything that ails us can be cured with a pill. It cannot. One cannot consume a subpar diet and then take a handful of magic pills that will reverse or override the damage. If you really care about your long-term health–or even just about feeling your best and most energetic right now–look at what you’re putting in your mouth today. No evasions or rationalizations: be honest with yourself. Then educate yourself with the myriad online resources that exist about what your exact nutritional needs are. Or spend a few hours consulting with a nutritionist, money far better spent than at the GNC on more pills.
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