More Benefits from Calcium
From Dietitian Jessica Setnick, MS, RD/LD

"Thank you for the update - it was fun to see my name on your website, and I am glad that I can be helpful.  I read the "dem bones" info on calcium and osteoporosis, and thought you would be interested to know the following tidbits, if you don't already:

• Drinking coffee seems to interfere with calcium and bone-building.  According to the American Dietetic Association, each cup of coffee removes the calcium in one teaspoon of milk - a tiny amount, but it adds up, and it worsens an already bad scenario if someone is not taking in enough calcium in the first place.
  
  
• There is a wonderful calcium supplement called "Viactiv", made by Mead-Johnson and available over-the-counter. Each Viactiv "chew" contains 500mg of calcium, also provides Vitamin D, and, best of all, it tastes like a  yummy piece of candy (chocolate, caramel, or mocha, I think).  I recommend this product a lot, not as a substitute for nutritious dairy products, but as "insurance" on those days that you have not had enough calcium and know full well you are not going to.
  
  
• I am friends with a leading osteoporosis researcher, and she feels that dairy products are the best food source of calcium, and that we are raising a generation of kids with osteoporosis because they seem to mostly drink soft drinks and juice.  So that is another point of view to balance out the idea that dairy products are not good for us.   
  
  
• Also interesting; calcium intake has been shown in one study to decrease the symptoms of PMS.

Continued success with the site, and please feel free to contact me if there is any way I can help you."

Thanks so much, Jessica.  I wasn't familiar with Viactiv; that's an extremely helpful thing to know.   Please feel free to offer your expertise or critique at any time.