by Karl Haro von Mogel on 21 October 2009
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body, and most of it is found in our bones and teeth. Without this element to form the hard structures of our bodies, life as we know it as mammals would be in peril. We need it for our nerves and muscles to function properly, too. Many people in the United States are deficient in calcium, upwards of 44%, and in the developing world, these numbers are sadly much, much higher. And as we age, we lose more and more calcium from our bones, leading to osteoporosis. Women are particularly at risk for this disease once they go through menopause.
 What can we do? Taking calcium in supplement form can be one way to absorb it, but according to the results of a huge multi-year trial of calcium supplements conducted by the Women’s Health Initiative, these provided only modest benefits. Only women over 60 who took the full regimen of calcium supplements (with Vitamin D) had a statistically significant difference from the control group. And this benefit came with a cost – of more kidney stones.
Nutrition research continues to find wrinkles in the vitamin and mineral pill-popping philosophy, often due to the fact that there are many factors that influence the absorption of needed nutrients. In the case of calcium, vitamin D is important to help its absorption, while antinutrients such as phytic acid (aka phytate) and oxalic acid will inhibit its absorption. One particular form, calcium oxalate, is insoluble in water, and will pass right through us, if it doesn’t irritate our tissues on the way through. (It is often shaped like tiny needles that the plants doubtlessly use to defend themselves.)
Can’t we just eat vegetables that are high in calcium? Not necessarily.
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by Anastasia on 21 October 2009 Genetic Maize is just one blog about genetic engineering that contributes to the group blog Biofortified. Scientist bloggers at Biofortified have all made a commitment to communicate with the public about GMOs.
Biofortified is in the running to win the Ashoka Changemakers contest, GMO Risk or Rescue. But we need your help! The grand prize is a $1500 grant and a conversation with Michael Pollan – both of which will help us to contribute
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by Karl Haro von Mogel on 18 October 2009 Tomorrow’s Table, the book and blog by Pamela Ronald, has now moved to ScienceBlogs. Home of the popular Pharyngula blog written by PZ Myers, the medical blog Respectful Insolence by Orac, and a whole host of others, this means she will have a lot more exposure and the support of a pool of regular blog readers in that community. Congratulations! Maybe a few of those readers might find their way from the hive mind
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by Frank N. Foode on 17 October 2009 Biofortified is in the running to win the Ashoka Changemakers contest, GMO Risk or Rescue. But we need your help, dear readers. The contest entries close on October 21, and the voting will continue to the 28th. The grand prize is a $1500 grant and a conversation with Michael Pollan – both of which are sure to make this site better than ever. If you read Biofortified and have enjoyed some of the stuff we have written and want to see bigger and better things, please take a couple minutes to register for changemakers and enter your vote.
I heard that their site was a little awkward and people were having trouble navigating around and voting, so let me show you how to do it step-by-step!
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by Karl Haro von Mogel on 14 October 2009 After much hard work, and diving into php code, I am pleased to announce the launch of the Biofortified Forum!
Coming close on the heels of the recent wordpress upgrade, new user registration spam protections, and other little things running in the background that you may or may not have noticed, this new addition is something I’m really excited about. I have been to many sites that have their own forums for allowing users to start their own discussions, and I have wanted to add one to the site for some time. But those forums are often tacked on to the sites where they are hosted, and feel like an external addition, not unlike a lean-to. No one wants to hang out in a shed attached to a mansion! And to have to have two sets of keys to get into each one? No thanks!
Yes, the new forum is contained within the site, thanks to a spiffy wordpress plugin called Forum Server. It places the forum into any page you want within the site, and so the discussion happens with the look and feel of the site it is a part of. Seamless. But the best part about this plugin is that it taps into the same base of users that the blog uses. Register for one and you are registered for both! One set of keys does it. Plus, if you sign up for Gravatar with the email address you use for commenting or registering, you can replace that funky image with your own picture on both the blog and in the forum. Painless.
Well, almost.
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What can we do? Taking calcium in supplement form can be one way to absorb it, but according to the results of a huge multi-year trial of calcium supplements conducted by the Women’s Health Initiative, these provided only modest benefits. Only women over 60 who took the full regimen of calcium supplements (with Vitamin D) had a statistically significant difference from the control group. And this benefit came with a cost – of more kidney stones.
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