Calcium and Fluorine elements and how they relate to our health.

1. Calcium
Ca, 20

2. What is Calcium?
 Is a chemical element of atomic number 20
and symbol Ca on the periodic table. A soft
gray alkaline earth metal and the fifth most
abundant element by mass in the Earth's
crust. In its pure form, it is a silvery firm
element which is malleable and when burned,
it emits a yellow to red flame.

3. How is calcium ingested by
humans?
 Calcium is a mineral found in many foods and drinks
like milk, cheese, yoghurt, seaweeds (kelp, hijiki and
wakame), nuts and seeds, beans, figs, broccoli,
spinach, tofu, dandelion leaves, many fortified
breakfast cereals, many fortified drinks (soy milk and
a variety of fruit juices), crushed eggshells - they can
be ground into a powder and added to foods and/or
drinks- and Some dark-green vegetables which may
contain high levels of oxalic acid which reduces the
body's ability to absorb calcium.

4. How is calcium beneficial to
the human body?
 Calcium is a nutrient the human body needs
to maintain strong bones.
 Ninety-nine percent of our body's calcium is
stored in our bones and teeth, the other one
percent is found in blood. Blood calcium is
necessary to support our body's critical
functions such as controlling our blood pressure
and maintaining our heartbeat.

5. What happens if humans do not
ingest sufficient calcium?
 The calcium in our bones makes up our bone bank.
Throughout our lifetime, the calcium from the foods
we eat is "deposited" in and "withdrawn" from our
bone bank, depending on our needs. When our
calcium intake is too low to keep our blood calcium
normal, our body will "withdraw" the calcium it needs
from our bones. Over time, if more calcium is taken
out of our bones than is put in, the result may be thin,
weak bones that may break more easily.

6. How much calcium the human
body need per day?
 It is important to know the amount of calcium our
body need each day. The following chart list the
recommended daily calcium intake according to age
and gender.
Then you need this much calcium each day
If this is your age and gender (mg = milligrams)
Birth to 12 months Supplied by formula or breast milk
1-3 700 mg
4-8 1000 mg
9-18 1300 mg
Men 19 – 70 & Women 19 – 50 1000 mg
Women 51-70 1200mg
Men and Women 71+ 1200 mg

8. Is a chemical element of atomic number 9 and
symbol F. A poisonous pale yellow gas of the
halogen series, it is the most reactive and highly
toxic gaseous of all the elements. In nature,
fluorine will be found bonded with other
substances, forming compounds such as calcium
fluoride.

9. Humans do not ingest fluorine directly because is dangerous but
they do ingest fluoride which is a combination of fluorine with
other elements. Fluoride is found in natural water supplies
(usually in very low levels), in plants which naturally absorb
fluoride from the soil, so small amounts of fluoride compounds
are present in all our food and is commonly used in pesticides
(plant foods grown with pesticides will have a higher
concentration) as well as in dental products. The highest dietary
concentration of fluoride occurs in animal foods and in
processed foods, especially fish. Fluoride builds up in the tissues
of animals.

10. No, on the contrary, is very dangerous and in its
pure form, is not generally available to people.
However its compound elements such as
fluoride is available but is not an essential
nutrient for our body because when ingested at
low levels, it can cause fluorosis which can be
dental or skeletal and at high levels can even
cause death.

11. When fluorides (an element of fluorine) are ingested by humans
or laboratory animals, they are absorbed in the stomach and/or
the intestine, if it is from soluble fluorides, is almost completely
absorbed (either as HF or F-, depending on stomach acidity); it is
then rapidly distributed in tissues. In humans and laboratory
animals, fluorides mostly build up in bones and teeth, which
retain about 99% of the total fluoride body. Growth and
remodeling of bones are generally affected by both levels of
calcium-phosphorus and fluoride. High fluoride causes shorter
and thicker bones but generally had no effect on their density,
whereas high calcium-phosphorus levels increase bone density.

12. http://www.news-medical.net/health/Calcium-What-
is-Calcium.aspx
http://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/conditions/osteop
orosis/calcium_supplements.htm
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/248958.p
hp
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/07/whats-
the-deal-with-fluoride/
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/102/12/1623.full.pdf