Healthy bones have tensile and compressional strengths, similar to that of reinforced concrete. Besides providing structural support for the muscles and internal organs, bones also act as a reservoir for important minerals and elements such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, fluoride and sodium. Of these minerals, calcium is the most important for providing the essential bone infrastructure. In addition, bones play an integral role in the overall homeostatic control of calcium in the body (1). Approximately 97 to 99 …showed first 75 words of 753 total…

…showed last 75 words of 753 total…the organ¡¦s distal tubule, while vitamin D may stimulate proximal tubular reabsorption. On the other hand, calcitonin, a hormone produced by the thyroid, inhibits tubular calcium reabsorption. Using pharmacological calcium doses to treat osteoporosis results in parathyroid hormone suppression, which in turn decreases bone loss (1). Some studies have shown calcium supplementation to significantly decrease bone fracture incidence in patients with varying degrees of osteoporosis. A number of other studies support calcium¡¦s ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**