Calcium Supplements

Factual Questions
1

So I got into one of those discussions with an SCA buddy of mine about being popped back in time and what beneficial stuff we could do with just what knowledge we have when popped back.

I got to thinking, and I remember an old wives tale about pregnancy - you lose a tooth for each child you bear. Apparently your body makes the fetal skeleton out of the maternal bone calcium if the mother doesn’t eat enough dietary calcium. So I got to wondering if the mother either ate an entire eggshell a day or drank the water eggshells were cooked in if that would be enough dietary calcium to prevent the removal of calcium from the mother’s teeth and bones?

We figured that basic sanitation [washing hands and clothing Semmelweiss style] would go a long way towards improving maternal and infant mortality chance that there might be some other health improvements we could sneak in without stepping on the hems of the accepted physicians and chiurgeons but not falling into the whole midwife/witch category. [Figuring on entering a convent and serving in their dispensaries. I can sing and pray to blend in. Call it about 1200AD]

2

Eggshells are calcium carbonate, if they weren’t predigested you’d be likely to end up with a very heavy digestion. Better look into dairy if possible.

You seem to be confused about the role of physicians. Most childbirths didn’t involve one until thereabouts of the industrial revolution - it was wisewomen and midwives, previously, except for the very rich (and even then, not always). Childbirth was woman’s business, no men’s toes to step on.

3

Calcium is important to supplement during pregnancy. Dairy does have a lot of it, but there are OTC supplements too, like bone meal and plenty of pill-based ones as well. It’s also good to supplement with a little magnesium, to balance out the calcium.

Someone who isn’t pregnant doesn’t usually need calcium supplements. In fact, they usually are magnesium-deficient, if anything.