Optimal nutrition: calcium, magnesium and phosphorus

Area of Science:

• Nutritional biochemistry and chronic disease prevention.

Background:

• Historically, nutrition research focused on deficiency indicators.
• Expanding research links nutrition to chronic diseases, necessitating broader indicators.
• The concept of 'optimal nutrition' is emerging, moving beyond mere adequacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the concept of optimal nutrition.
• To explore functional markers for nutrient adequacy.
• To examine optimal nutrition for calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus.

Main Methods:

• Defining functional markers of nutrient status.
• Reviewing existing research on calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus.
• Considering traditional approaches like balance data where functional markers are lacking.

Main Results:

• Optimal nutrition is defined by functional markers reaching a plateau unaffected by further nutrient intake.
• Functional markers relate nutrient status to target tissue function and disease risk.
• Calcium (Ca) has potential functional indicators like maximal retention, bone mass, and turnover biomarkers.

Conclusions:

• Defining optimal nutrition is a new challenge for nutrition research.
• Functional markers are key to defining optimal nutrient intake, especially for chronic disease risk.
• While calcium shows promise for functional indicators, magnesium (Mg) and phosphorus (P) still rely on traditional methods.