How Does the Body Use Calcium?

Importance

• Calcium is one of the most important minerals your body needs to survive on a daily basis. Whether it's providing strength for the bones, or helping the blood clotting process, your body needs calcium to operate. In fact, if your body does not receive enough calcium through your diet, the body reacts by stealing calcium from your bones, to keep the processes that depend on calcium running. This can lead to bone fragility, and may even develop into osteoporosis.

Bones and Teeth

• One of the most important tasks that calcium has is to give strength to the teeth and bones of your body. The body uses calcium to give your bones the necessary strength and mass to hold up the many structures of the body. Without adequate amounts of calcium your bones can become weakened and eventually form osteoporosis. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, approximately 44 million people in the United States are at risk for developing osteoporosis.

Central Nervous System

• Calcium also plays an important role in the central nervous system, especially within the brain. Calcium ions are essential in converting electrical impulses into chemical signals in the brain. The presence of calcium ions in the synaptic vesicles triggers the neurotransmitters to be released into the synaptic cleft. The signal can then cross the cleft and fuse with the dendrite on the other side, effectively helping to pass the signal to wherever it needs to go in the brain.

Blood Clotting

• Calcium also plays an important role in blood clotting. Blood clotting is the way your body heals blood vessels that have been cut or severed. Without this ability, even a small cut could possibly cause you to bleed to death. Blood clotting depends on a protein called fibrinogen. When activated, it becomes fibrin which allows the coagulation of blood. When the body needs to heal an opened blood vessel, it increases the levels of calcium in the blood platelets in the area. This added concentration sets off a series of reactions that allows fibrinogen to bind better and help block the flow of blood.

Muscles

• Calcium is also an important mineral for your muscles. The muscles of your body rely on calcium to relay nerve impulses between nerve fibers in the muscle tissues. These impulses allow your muscles to work and move. Without the right amounts of calcium in your neuromuscular cells, your body may experience problems such as twitching (tetany), and in serious circumstances may even cause your heart muscles to quit working.