How should the elderly supplement their calcium intake as winter approaches?

　　The cold winter is coming, how should the elderly supplement their calcium? With the cold winter coming and the temperature falling, many elderly people do not care about calcium supplementation in their lives, so that their bones also have various problems. For the elderly, if they want to survive the whole winter safely, they need to supplement more calcium. If people want to supplement calcium, the most effective way is to improve their eating habits and eat more foods high in calcium. So, how should the elderly supplement calcium?

　　“To “replenish bones,” we must first nourish the kidneys

　　If you want to know what to supplement, you must first understand what the bones are missing. From the perspective of Western medicine, osteoporosis is caused by the loss of calcium, so "bone repair" means supplementing calcium and vitamin D, vitamin C, estrogen, etc. that promote calcium absorption. But in traditional Chinese medicine, the situation is much more complicated. Bone health is often closely related to the health of various organs. The classic Chinese medicine book "The Yellow Emperor's Internal Medicine" written more than 2,000 years ago said, "If the kidney qi is hot, the waist and spine will not lift, the bones will become dry, the marrow will decrease, and bone atrophy will occur." The "bone dryness" mentioned here is basically similar to the clinical manifestations of osteoporosis in modern medicine, such as back pain, shortened stature, hunchback, and fractures. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine believes that the root cause of osteoporosis is kidney essence deficiency. The kidneys "maintain the bones and produce marrow." If the kidneys are deficient, they will not be able to nourish the bones, which will lead to weak and fragile bones. In other words, bone health and "kidneys" are closely related. To "replenish bones", we must first nourish the kidneys.

　　Spleen deficiency affects calcium absorption

　　In addition, spleen deficiency will affect the gastrointestinal absorption of nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, trace elements, protein and amino acids. Qi stagnation and blood stasis are the precipitating factors. Blood stasis blocks the meridians, and qi, blood, and body fluids cannot nourish the muscles and bones. This tells us that if the blood is not flowing smoothly, nutrients will not be transported to the bones in time. There is an old Chinese saying, "Running water does not rot, and door hinges do not become beetles." This also means the same thing in terms of bone health. Therefore, nourishing blood and strengthening the spleen are also the prerequisites for "bone repair".

　　Therefore, the treatment of osteoporosis should focus on "replenishing its deficiencies". Among them, yang-tonifying drugs are mainly those that nourish the kidneys, blood-tonifying drugs are mainly those that nourish the blood and spleen, and qi-tonifying drugs are mainly those that strengthen the spleen and qi. From this, it can be deduced that the current medication rules of traditional Chinese medicine for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis are based on the prescriptions of tonifying the kidney, strengthening the spleen and replenishing qi as the basic drug composition. Commonly used Chinese medicines include Rehmannia glutinosa, Angelica sinensis, Astragalus membranaceus, Lycium barbarum, Antler gum, Turtle shell, Codonopsis root, White peony root, Cuscuta seed, Chinese yam, Eucommia ulmoides, Ligustrum lucidum, etc. The second is to use blood-activating and stasis-removing drugs as the main compatible drugs. Drugs for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis are the most commonly used traditional Chinese medicines besides tonic drugs. Commonly used medicines include Achyranthes bidentata, Salvia miltiorrhiza, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Corydalis Corydalis, peach kernel, pangolin, Millet Spatholobus, etc.

　　You should also pay more attention to some bad living habits that affect the effectiveness of bone repair. For example, avoid excessive consumption of tea, coffee and other irritating things, and try to drink less alcohol in winter to avoid lowering the body's resistance. Do not eat foods rich in oxalic acid (such as spinach, amaranth, lettuce) with high-calcium foods such as fish soup and bone soup to prevent oxalic acid and calcium from combining into calcium oxalate and affecting calcium absorption. Eat less greasy and fried foods to ensure the tonic effect.

　　Good eating habits can effectively prevent the occurrence of diseases and make our bodies healthier. For the elderly, if they want to spend the whole winter with peace of mind, they must supplement their calcium intake and enhance their physical fitness.