Malnutrition and Chronic Diseases

Calcium Malnutrition and Chronic Diseases Whilst calcium deficiency is considered an important contributory factor to common conditions such as osteoporosis and hyper- 

it may also play a role in the development of mammary (Lipkin and Newmark 

prostate (Hayes et al. 1999) and, particularly, colon tumors (Lipkin et al. 1991). 

In this respect, it is important to note that calcium malnutrition is a widespread phenomenon in North America (Heaney 2002) as well as in many European countries (e.g., Kudlacek et al. 2003). 

Involutional (primary) osteoporosis is the manifestation of a metabolic bone disease in which the amount of normally mineralized bone matrix in affected patients has been reduced to a level below that of the normal population of the same age and sex. The disease is certainly of multifactorial origin, since genetic (Seeman etal. 1989), mechanical (e.g.. Frost 1988), nutritional (e.g., Hegsted 1986), and hormonal factors (e.g., Melton and Riggs 1988) can cause the severe impairment of the bone remodeling process (Eriksen etal. 1994) which underlies the observed reduction in bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue that lead to an increased risk of fractures at typical sites of the skeleton (for a definition, see Anonymous 1993) 

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