Calcium: A nutrient deserving a special issue

Abstract

Interest in calcium has continued since the 1980s when its role in promoting bone growth and retention was established in clinical trials of children and postmenopausal women. The human nutrition functions now attributed to calcium have expanded beyond bone health to include other conditions such as body weight maintenance. While most efforts have been focused on the findings that dietary intakes are low, there are emerging data on safety concerns of excess amounts. This Special Issue on calcium nutrition, spanning the lifecycle from critically ill neonates through to older adults, has been written by some of the leading researchers in this field. © 2010 by the authors.