Chinese parents always seem to think that their children are deficient in calcium, any small problem in infancy and early childhood may be related to calcium deficiency, pillow baldness calcium deficiency, excessive sweating calcium deficiency, bad sleep calcium deficiency, not growing calcium deficiency …… below we will look at whether the child is deficient in calcium, the need for calcium supplementation. Calcium is the most abundant mineral element in the body, adequate calcium intake is essential to maintain normal bone mineral content and bone density in children and adolescents, to reach peak bone mass, and to reduce the risk of fracture and osteoporosis in old age. In addition, calcium ions are involved in a variety of physiological functions in the body, such as blood clotting and maintaining normal excitability of the heart, muscles, and nerves. What is a calcium deficiency? Chronic inadequate dietary calcium intake and poor intestinal calcium absorption due to insufficient or deficient vitamin D are the main causes. infants, children and adolescents under 2 years of age have high calcium demand due to rapid growth. Among them, infancy is the period with the highest percentage of bone calcium deposition in a lifetime. Calcium deficiency is also easily caused when suffering from diarrhea and gastrointestinal disorders. However, blood calcium levels cannot be used to determine the nutritional status of calcium in the body. Blood calcium levels only decrease slightly in cases of extreme calcium deficiency. Ultrasound bone density monitoring can partially reflect the calcium nutritional status, but there are many influencing factors and the lack of normal reference data for children, so the extent of reduced bone density in children is yet to be confirmed. Do I need to take calcium supplements? First of all, the calcium content in breast milk is generally 30mg/100ml, if a half year old baby consumes 750~1000ml of breast milk, the calcium intake is 225~300mg, which means it is sufficient. After the age of six months, you can start to add complementary foods, and don’t worry if the intake of breast milk is reduced. If you look at the calcium content in formula, the general formula is generally 50-60mg/100ml, and the calcium content in special formula even reaches 80-100mg/100ml, which means that if you consume 400ml of formula every day, you can consume more than 200mg of calcium, so you can easily meet the standard. However, the absorption of calcium in formula milk is not as good as breast milk, so it is recommended to consume some relatively more. For children and adolescents, if they have a balanced diet and ensure daily intake of meat, eggs, milk and soy products, they should not worry about calcium deficiency. However, nowadays, many children are picky eaters, partial eaters and anorexics at a later stage due to incorrect addition of complementary foods and parents’ indulgence or negligence in discipline, which may also lead to insufficient calcium intake and can be properly supplemented with calcium. However, it is also necessary to improve dietary behavior and habits, not just calcium supplementation. There is also the fact that calcium is mainly absorbed in the small intestine, and its absorption requires the participation of vitamin D. Therefore, it is necessary to have sufficient vitamin D first. Once again, parents are reminded to ensure adequate vitamin D intake during infancy and childhood, and to ensure outdoor activities. Alcohol, caffeine, oxalic acid, phytic acid, etc. can hinder calcium absorption and should be reduced. In addition, exercise is good for bone calcium deposition, so you should exercise more.