May 10, 2005

Camp Calcium to study bone health needs of Asian adolescents

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University is giving Asian boys and girls a chance to participate in a fun, educational summer camp while contributing to research that will help them maintain strong bones as they age.

Camp Calcium, a Purdue research project funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1990, studies various aspects of the way the body processes calcium while participants live on campus. This is the ninth summer Camp Calcium participants have been invited to the Purdue campus.

"Asians make up more than one-half of the world population, yet we know very little about how much calcium they need to build strong bones," said Connie Weaver, distinguished professor and head of Purdue's Department of Foods and Nutrition. "As they age, they will be susceptible to hip fractures and osteoporosis, a bone-loss disease that now costs $14 billion in health care every year. So research coming out of this summer's program will help us develop a plan that will help Asians avoid that life-changing diagnosis."

The camp is open to Asian girls between 12-14 years old and boys between 13-15. During the time they are on campus, the students will have the opportunity to take a variety of classes as well as participate in traditional summer activities, such as swimming, arts and crafts, sports and field trips.

At the same time, their diets will be closely monitored and supervised for calcium intake. Because the Purdue researchers will know how much calcium each subject consumes, blood tests and waste analyses will tell them how much calcium stays in the bones.

Participants will spend two three-week periods at Purdue – from June 19 to July 9 and July 17 to Aug. 6.

There is a $100 registration fee, but no additional fees for activities or room and board, and campers will be compensated for participating in the study. For more information and an application packet, contact Berdine Martin at (800) 830-0175, (765) 494-0385 or martinb1@purdue.edu.

Camp Calcium was responsible for the landmark finding in 1990 that the optimal period of calcium absorption in young women peaks near the beginning of their first menstrual period and declines for the remainder of their lives.

In addition, data from previous camps has been used to establish the Institute of Medicine's Dietary Reference Intake and Calcium Requirements for adolescents. Results also were used in last year's surgeon general's report on osteoporosis and bone health.

Weaver is an internationally recognized expert on calcium metabolism and bone health. She was a member of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which gave recommendations to the United States Department of Agriculture to produce the most recent "Dietary Guidelines for Americans." She is the director of the National Institutes of Health Botanicals Research Center for Age Related Diseases at Purdue and past president of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences.

Writer: Maggie Morris, (765) 494-2432, maggiemorris@purdue.edu

Sources: Connie Weaver, (765) 494-8231, weavercm@purdue.edu

Berdine Martin, (765) 494-6559, martinb1@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

To the News Service home page