Calcium

My cell biology professor offered us an extra credit assignment to disprove a claim made by a commercially available product. He offered this assignment because he believes that evidence-based research is essential in every discipline. For the assignment, I choose a calcium supplement that claims to treat osteoporosis by increasing bone mineral density. Osteoporosis is believed to be caused by loss of bone minerals which is why calcium supplements are often taken. When taken orally, calcium and other mineral supplements are not absorbed by our bodies. Some studies have shown that there is a decrease in urinary calcium when calcium is taken in combination with vitamin. This not necessarily mean that the decrease is due to an increase in absorption by our bones. In communicating evidence for scientific claims, it is important to understand the methods used and the limitations of the assumptions that are made. The general public might not  understand that reproducible and correlated evidence does not necessarily support the claim. At the beginning of our studies, we study science as an epistemology. But what makes good science?