Some go so far as to say osteoporosis should be viewed as a pediatric disease. Maximum bone density in young children and adolescents may not be achieved because calcium intake is often not adequate. National surveys show that many children in the U.S. consume less than half of the RDA for calcium. It is also known that a large amount of the bone a woman will lose during her lifetime is lost before menopause. The once believed notion that bone loss occurs only in elderly women is inaccurate.
Many researchers feel quality calcium supplementation is essential for both young and old.
Supplemental calcium may significantly reduce the progression of bone loss already begun in postmenopausal women. The researchers concluded that complete calcium supplementation may slow or reduce bone loss. One preliminary study of osteoporotic post-menopausal women, with the complication of primary biliary cirrhosis, showed that MCHC not only prevented bone thinning but it actually increased cortical bone thickness. Further research is needed to confirm this effect. That framwork, or skeleton, contains over 200 seperate bones that support and give shape to the body and protect its vital organs.