Lack of calcium in the body

About taste preferences

Some of us have seen unexpected oddities in taste more than once, especially in childhood. Sometimes quite reasonable children of six to ten years old suddenly begin to drag “all sorts of nasty things” into their mouths, and not just drag, but purposefully search for a certain substance. It can be chalk, clay, coal, even limestone pebbles on the beach, match heads or earth.

Someone with affection recalls how in childhood in the village at their grandmother’s secretly ate plaster, someone is sad for the “sweet” chalk of the Soviet era. And someone, having rummaged in the depths of memory, will find that in childhood they sometimes licked watercolors with pleasure. They all tasted sweet, but for some reason, preference was given to red and orange.

Some of us have kept our way of eating, for example, chalk, even as an adult. Accidentally finding “fellows” out of habit, these people seriously discuss the taste differences between different brands of chalk and argue about whether chalk from a stationery store is unhealthy and which is tastier – Antoshka crayons, Lantan round chalk or delicate Czech Kohinoor “. Many women have noticed a passion for chalk or whitewash during pregnancy.

All these habits are not accidental. If you find your baby has a habit of certain and not quite ordinary “products”, this is another reason to think about whether the child is right eats and does he receive with food all the substances he needs for development and growth?

The reasons for “chalk addiction” in children (and adults) are different. But, as a rule, children who secretly carry crayons from the chalkboard to eat, do not have enough calcium. After all, chalk is a natural source of calcium. An addiction to all calcareous rocks, including clay, also indicates a lack of this trace element in the body.

The much needed calcium

Calcium in childhood is needed by the body in huge quantities: 800 mg per day for children 1-3 years old, 900-1000 mg for children 4-6 years old, 1100 mg – 7-10 years old and 1200 mg – 11 years old and older. Calcium is needed for normal bone development, formation healthy teeth and gumsas well as for muscle growth.

Without calcium, the child not only suffers from impaired physical development and growth, quickly gets tired and often gets sick. Calcium is also involved in many metabolic processes in the body, and a lack of it can cause severe hormonal imbalance.

It is also believed that the love of chalk is a side symptom of anemia, or a lack of hemoglobin. And then the body lacks iron. By the way, all iron oxides are brown or reddish – remember the red watercolors?

According to the WHO, about 30% of the world’s population suffers from iron deficiency in one form or another. But in childhood, anemia is especially dangerous, and most of the trace elements, including calcium and iron, that enter the body with food, are either very poorly absorbed or quickly excreted.

The most balanced set of vitamins and minerals, suitable for most children, has a complex “Kaltsinova”.

The use of special vitamin preparations allows not only to add useful minerals to the diet, but also to assimilate them with ease. Practice shows – the minerals contained in vitamin and mineral complexes, are absorbed about 20 times more efficiently than the same minerals in conventional products or their substitutes, such as chalk, clay or earth. Indeed, in tablets they are contained in the most “suitable” form for the body.

The most balanced set of vitamins and minerals, suitable for most children, has a complex “Kaltsinova”. It contains calcium, phosphorus and vitamins A and D3 and B6 – all those elements without which normal human development is unthinkable and the lack of which children are trying to compensate for by eating chalk, earth or paint.

Many inedible substances can be toxic and harmful. Useful substances, for example, phosphorus, are very rare and in extremely small quantities found in food. The same goes for other elements. Their lack can also be “calculated” by taste preferences, of course, adjusted for a child’s love for sweets.

However, those with a sweet tooth may also have a problem – they simply do not have enough chromium. And chocolate lovers, perhaps, feel an instinctive lack of magnesium. Likewise, children who like to gnaw the heads of matches can compensate for the lack of sulfur or phosphorus in such a way, salt lovers – potassium and sodium, and if an unexpected interest is shown in acidic foods – perhaps this is from a lack of vitamin C. In any case, if you notice a child, sudden changes in tastes or other gastronomic oddities, first of all consult a doctor!