A sweet way to avoid osteoporosis (and maybe cure PMS, too)?


The Product
Do you have a sweet tooth? Really like chocolate? Do you know that you need more calcium in your diet to reduce your risk of osteoporosis but you don't know where to turn? There may be a new product in stores tailored to your needs.

Mead Johnson Nutritionals recently launched a new calcium supplement called VIACTIV Soft Calcium Chews. They are bite-sized chews that come in two flavors, chocolate, and mochaccino. Each chew contains calcium carbonate and is supposed to provide 500 milligrams of calcium. Vitamins D and K are also incorporated into the chews to aid in the absorption of the calcium. According to the company, eating two or three chews can deliver the recommended daily intake of calcium, 1,000 to 1,500 milligrams. It is important to note that just because the chews contain 1,000 to 1,500 milligrams of calcium does not mean that your body will absorb all of it. Your body may only absorb 500 milligrams, which is far less than the total calcium contained in each chew.

Possible Benefits
The target market is women over 35. Yet, calcium intake is most important during adolescence, as women soon reach their peak bone density. If they don't get enough calcium at this point in life, their bone density is always less and they set the stage for trouble later. When they reach menopause, more bone is broken done than built up, which is the exact opposite of youth. There is a decrease in bone density. Calcium deficiency is to be avoided because it will make this break-down of bone worse. Still, no matter what a woman does at menopause, she does not appreciably change this decline from its natural course with calcium supplements. Whether or not the woman's decline in bone mass dips down to the level where it will cause her fractures is largely determined by the bone density she had before the decline began, which was reached way back when.

There is now much evidence that calcium alleviates PMS symptoms. This calcium supplement is chocolate. Plus, growing girls have higher calcium requirements. Why not give PMS Escape a run for its money? There's no way to motivate a teen to do something for her health a good 50 years down the road. But get rid of that irritability and satisfy the chocolate craving every month all at once, that's something a girl can understand. The calcium supplement market is rapidly expanding, largely due to menopausal baby boomers. Calcium is being added to a number of foods, such as orange juice and cereal. Young women should grocery shop with their calcium needs in mind, just as much as their mid-life counterparts. Unlike with social security, young women can benefit from being in the shadow of the baby boom.

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Copyright © 1999 GenneX Healthcare Technologies,Inc.


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