served for early menopause has ceased, and the bone loss for women in this life stage group is similar to that experienced by men. The estimation of an RDA to cover more than 97.5 percent of the life stage group consistent with normally distributed data results in an RDA of 1,200 mg/day, again in the face of concerns about high levels of intake (see Chapter 6).

The EAR for non-pregnant women and adolescents is appropriate for pregnant women and adolescents based on the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of calcium supplementation during pregnancy that reveal no evidence that additional calcium intake beyond normal non-pregnant requirements has any benefit to mother or fetus (Koo et al., 1999; Jarjou et al., 2010). Consistent with the RCT data indicating the appropriateness of the non-pregnant EAR and RDA for the pregnant woman is (1) the epidemiologic evidence suggesting that parity is associated with a neutral or even a protective effect relative to maternal BMD or fracture risk (Sowers, 1996; Kovacs and Kronenberg, 1997; O’Brien et al., 2003; Chantry et al., 2004), and (2) the physiologic evidence that maternal calcium needs are met through key changes resulting in a doubling of the intestinal fractional calcium absorption, which compensates for the increased calcium transferred to the fetus (200 to 250 mg/day) and potentially some transient mobilization of maternal bone mineral, particularly in the late third trimester.