Posted by jane on April 22, 2005

Q: To prevent osteoporosis, calcium needs to be consumed. Can calcium present in the egg shell be used as a supplement in our diet?

A: Excellent question, but I don't have an answer! Whether we have adequate calcium in our diet to prevent osteoporosis or not hindges on how we obtain it and then once obtained, is it bio-available. There are some products that may have lots of calcium (good source of calcium)in them but if we can't assimilate it (if it's not bio-available)into our bodies, it's worthless as a calcium source. Humans are able to obtain calcium from some sources but not others and this is why it isn't enough to simply ingest calcium, one must ingest bio-available calcium.

The medical community or nutritional community would be much better able to address your question about eggshell bio-availability, although I'm not sure how you plan on getting those eggshells into someone. Are you thinking of grinding up eggshells? Again though, ingesting the eggshells is only the first step, your body must then be able to assimilate that calcium to have it provide any benefit and I'm not sure that eggshells ARE bio-available.

Sorry I haven't answered your question but I hope it provides you with a bit more information and helps you ask someone who can.

John Wiessinger ( April 22, 2005)