The CRON-O-Meter

[ETeSelle]

OK -- thanks! I'm only getting 250-350 mg, though, on the days when I do not eat tons of calcium-rich greens. Should I not worry about that (it will get made up on the days when I do eat them) or must I make more of a point of eating them every single day?

Also . . .I'm kind of amazed by how few calories I seem to be taking in. I have more or less stopped losing weight at current weight so this seems to be the right amount of food for me . . . but the Cron-o-meter thinks I should be eating about twice as much. ???

[bettina]

Is 750 mg calcium o.k. for post menopausal women as well?
Would recommended daily allowances not vary depending on the persons size? How can a 100 lbs person need the same amount as a 200 lbs person?
thanks

bettina

[JeffN]

There are many many factors that effect calcium balance so there is never a simple single answer. Realize that some cultures throughout the world get in as little 350-500 mgs/day and have no problems.

In Health
Jeff

Am J Clin Nutr February 2011 vol. 93 no. 2 442-445

Recalculation of the calcium requirement of adult men
BE Christopher Nordin and Howard A Morris

Abstract

Background: There is uncertainty about the calcium requirement with particular respect to age and sex differences and the calculation of skin calcium losses.

Objective: We calculated the calcium requirement of adult men from a homogenous set of calcium balances and a robust estimate of calcium loss through the skin.

Design: We reviewed available high-quality published calcium balances in men and retrieved 219 balances; we noted a fall in calcium absorption in individuals >60 y of age. Our analysis was confined to 157 men ≤59 y of age with intakes of ≤1100 mg Ca.

Results: The mean age of the men was 38 y (range: 17–59 y), and the mean duration of the balances was 107 d (9–480 d). We assumed skin calcium losses of 40 mg Ca/d on the basis of the calcium content of insensible water loss. There was a highly significant correlation between calcium intake and the net absorbed calcium (R2 = 0.59), but inspection and physiologic considerations led us to use the logarithmic transformation of intake, which yielded the equation Ca absorbed = 210 log Ca intake − 1135 mg Ca. The calcium intake at which urine calcium plus skin calcium losses were equal to the net absorbed calcium was rounded to 750 mg Ca as the requirement, which implied a recommended allowance of 900 mg Ca.

Conclusion: We conclude that the mean calcium requirement of adult men <60 y of age is 750 mg Ca/d, and the Recommended Dietary Allowance should be 900 mg Ca.

[ETeSelle]

Thanks! I'm sure it makes a HUGE difference being vegan, as well, since excess protein causes blood acidification (and leaching of calcium from the bones to buffer that). Those not taking in excess protein can KEEP more of the calcium they take in, right?

[ETeSelle]

One more question (sorry!!!!). I just re-set my caloric min and max, b/c as I said, it kept saying I wasn't eating enough. It wanted me to be taking in 2200-2400 cals a day. HUH??? I would gain weight in NO time on that. This seems odd since the Cron-o-meter is part of the CR movement, no? Why would it have me take in enough cals for me to gain weight? I eat a LOT of food, but it's all on the calorie-undense side so it's rare that I go over 1400 cals/day (which I now know thanks to the Cron-o-meter).

What's up with the high caloric estimate, do you think? I told it my current weight, height, age, and that I wanted to maintain my weight where it is, and 2200-1400 is what they put in for me. ??

[JeffN]

The only reason I recommend using the CRON-O-Meter is to compare your nutrient intake to the RDA/DRIs. I do not recommend using their defaults for calories or the % of macronutrients, etc.

This should all be laid out in the CRON threads in the Hot Topics

In Health
Jeff

[ETeSelle]

Ok -- Sorry -- I'll go read through those again. I lowered the min/max and now it looks less alarming, LOL!

[smassena]

is there an app so I can use this on my IPAD?
thanks

[energy_dad]

The newest version 9.5 was released.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/cronometer/

In Health
Jeff

The online version is really nice:
http://cronometer.com/

[energy_dad]

I'm only getting 250-350 mg, though, on the days when I do not eat tons of calcium-rich greens. Should I not worry about that (it will get made up on the days when I do eat them) or must I make more of a point of eating them every single day?

Hi Jeff, I read your comment above about cultures getting less than recommended dose of calcium and they are fine. I'm getting about 380mg per day.
Should I get tested?
or are there certain symptoms I should be aware of to know that I'm calcium deficient?
and if I may ask - how much mg of calcium per day do you average?

[bettina]

I still don't understand how to fine tune the omega 3's
I can put 1.1 in as grams but not percent.
How do I figure out the grams of omega 3's ?
I tried to figure it out from the information on the board but it doesn't say g or percent.
Do you alway refer to % of calories?

bettina

[JeffN]

Here you go

Omega 3 - change the minimum to either 1.1 (grams) for Women or 1.6 (grams) for Men (the NAS AI recommendations) with the upper level of 2.2 (the NIH recommendations).

Omega 6- change the lower level to equal your Omega 3 level and the upper level to be no more than 4x what every you set the Omega 3 at. This will keep your target levels at less than a 4:1 ratio.

This is all in grams

In Health
Jeff

[bettina]

That is what I had done 2 years ago when I first set it up and it seemed crazy that what I eat plus 1 tablespoon flax would come to 2 times more than I need.
I figured I did something wrong.
Is that o.k. to be way over the RDA on most things?
Maybe I eat too many veggies.
thanks for your help

bettina

[jamietwo]

I have a question about selecting the quantity of cooked collard greens. Collards cook down a lot compared to the original amount of raw collards. So if I select "cups, chopped" in the amount field, I would be measuring the number of cups after its cooked, right?

Thanks!

[JeffN]

The best way to ensure accuracy is to weigh food.

However, do realize that all results are based on average nutrient content of a variety samples.

In Health
Jeff