November 15, 2006

America's Teen Girls Lack Calcium

Blacks, especially, are low on the bone-building nutrient, study finds

Blacks, especially, are low on the bone-building nutrient, study finds

Tuesday, April 11, 2006—Teenage girls and young women, especially blacks, don't get enough calcium at a time in their lives when calcium is crucial to building healthy bones, a new U.S. study finds.

"The start of adolescence to about age 30 is the most important time to get enough calcium," study lead author Richard Forshee, of the University of Maryland's Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy in College Park, said in a prepared statement. "It's that small window of time when they build the bone density that can help prevent osteoporosis in later years."

Reporting in the April issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Forshee's team analyzed national data from 1994 to 2002 in order to track changes in calcium intake.

They found that calcium intake increased for most age/gender categories, including adolescent females. Despite the increase, calcium intake among adolescent girls and young women remained well below recommended levels.

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