- To the point-Ajit Parrot

- Essential minerals like potassium, sodium chloride, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iodine, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, sulfur and selenium are obtained from a balanced diet.

There is a craze for cricket and football world cup games around the world right now. Falling incidents while playing sports are not surprising. Especially when a football match is being played, one or two players break the bones of their arms or legs. Apart from sports, a common man sometimes gets a fracture when he is a victim of an accident. Until now, when a Bone breaks, doctors have advised to start taking Calcium supplements. We would immediately start implementing that advice.

But according to a research, bones have nothing to do with calcium. On the other hand, taking more calcium leads to other diseases. Excessive obesity. Some types of cancer, kidney problems and stones, hypertension etc. are caused by excess calcium in the body.

Dr. Robert Thompson and Kathleen Barnes, an American doctor practicing as a gynecologist, wrote a factual book in 2008 based on their experiences, 'What Your Doctor Doesn't Know That Could Kill You - The Great Calcium Lie'. Newspapers including 'The New York Times' published a nice article about that book. The gist of the article is that calcium has nothing to do with bone strength or density.

These two scholars say that we have presented in this book the essence of our experiences in our profession as doctors. Bones are made up of certain minerals. Instead of those minerals, when we start taking calcium, the bones are damaged rather than benefited. Calcium intake increases bone density, but does not strengthen bones.

When the calcium in the body is more than what the body needs, it causes various diseases. It is true that bones contain elements such as phosphorus and calcium, but the misconception that only calcium supplements make them stronger has been prevalent for decades. Doctors Robert Thompson and Kathleen Banners wrote this book that clears up the misconceptions prevalent in the medical profession.

In some cases, family doctors tell their patients, no doubt in a good spirit, that you should keep taking regular doses of calcium as you grow older. The authors point out the red light against it. According to these two, today in America alone, countless people are suffering from osteoporosis due to calcium overdose. They are advised to use only pink colored sindhaloon (Himalayan salt) in their diet.

In fact, some minerals are essential for health. Such minerals include potassium, sodium chloride, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iodine, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, sulfur and selenium. Interestingly, sulfur is also used in rifles or pistols as gunpowder. If we burn a lamp, it also contains sulphur.

All these minerals are available to us from our daily diet. A balanced and sattvic diet provides the need for these minerals. However, with age, the bones become slightly weaker. As the minerals in it decrease, problems like angina or osteoporosis occur. In such cases, the family doctor advises taking calcium supplements. These doctors have said that calcium is not essential to keep bones strong.