A long-term calcium deficiency can lead to dental changes, cataracts, alterations in the brain, and osteoporosis, which causes the bones to become brittle.
Other symptoms of calcium deficiency include rickets, osteomalacia, scurvy, tetany, parathyroid hyperplasia, stunted growth, laryngospasm.
Deficiency of calcium lowers the body resistance and for the children become as easy prey to respiratory and intestinal infections.
Poor calcium intake affects mostly bone and muscle. Rickets occurs in children when the amount of calcium accretion per unit of bone matrix is deficient.
Hypocalcemia may result in tetany, a condition characterized by intermittent muscle contractions that fail to relax, especially in muscles of the arms and legs. Hypocalcemia is often detected by routine blood tests before symptoms become obvious. Doctors measure the total calcium level (which includes calcium bound to albumin) and the albumin level in blood to determine whether the level of unbound calcium is low.
What are the symptoms of calcium deficiency?
