[Reflections on Chinese residents' calcium intake and human health]

Calcium plays an important role in various physiological activities of the human body, and long-term insufficient or excessive intake of calcium will have a negative impact on the body's health. Existing data show that insufficient dietary calcium intake is closely related to bone health, but the non-bone effects are not clear. Increasing dietary calcium and supplementing calcium (with or without vitamin D) have a certain beneficial effect on the bone mineral density and its peak of adolescents and can delay the bone loss of the elderly, but it can't improve the height and bone mineral density of adults and fracture in the elderly. This article introduces the physiological functions of calcium, dietary sources, human intake, and methods for formulating recommended amounts, and summarizes the relationship between calcium and health effects. It also recommends that when formulating the reference intake of dietary calcium for Chinese residents, more consideration should be given to the data and information of the Chinese population, combined with the characteristics of Chinese residents' genetics, absorption and metabolism.