Camp Calcium offers teens
education, awareness
By Anna Herkamp
Summer
Reporter
Teens are at the point in their life where their
bones are accumulating mineral deposits at the highest rate. Such is
the focus of Camp Calcium; a camp dedicated to studying calcium accumulation
in teens.
The camp is a course of two three-week sessions.
The first session begins Saturday and runs to June 30. The participants
will go home for two weeks and then return for the second session beginning
on July 15 and running to Aug 4.
Camp Calcium is a research project at Purdue funded
by the National Institute of Health. The goal of the camp is to characterize
calcium metabolism in teen-agers and study it in relation to absorption
and retention in the categories of age, race and, this year, gender.
"We are trying to figure out the optimum tie of
growth and bone. We can study it for preventing fractures and osteoporosis
by estimating calcium requirements to maximize bone density at any time
in life," said Bernie Martin, research associate in the School of Family
and Consumer Science.
The camp has been held seven times in the last
10 years. What's new this year is that it's a boy's camp. In the past,
the camp has centered on teen-age girls. The reason it was only for
girls is because osteoporosis is more prominent in older women than
in men.
"Instances of osteoporosis in women occur faster
than in men, but men form it later in life," Martin said.
"The calcium requirements are different for boys
than for girls," said Martin.
The boys are recruited through the departments
of Family and Consumer Science, and local schools and community agencies
like the YMCA and Boys Clubs.
For the camp, the program recruited boys ages
13-15. They live in Duhme Hall for two three-week periods. All participants
will get bone scans, and various body composition measurements while
they're at Purdue.
While they are on campus, they eat a completely
controlled diet. "They only eat what we give them," said Martin. Each
portion of food is carefully weighed in order to keep track of how much
food is taken in.
"It's a tedious job and kind of labor intensive,"
said Martin. The food is weighed out of normal foods like pizza, hamburgers
and barbecued chicken. There will be one Purdue student counselor for
every eight boys. The boys are monitored to ensure their eating habits
are regular and controlled
In order to collect data, the camp participants
collect all excreta so researchers can calculate how much calcium is
retained. What food did not pass completely through the digestive track
is absorbed into bone tissue
This year, the camp centers on sports. Purdue coaches
are working with the School of Family and Consumer Science to put together
a camp in which the boys will have fun while they learn about nutrition
and fitness. Some of the educational activities include computer lab
activities in which the boys analyze their diets and learning about
bone density.
The boys also go on a canoeing trip and get to
see different things at Purdue including a treadmill used for horses
in the School of Veterinary Sciences and a chemistry show. Participants
will also go to an Indianapolis Indians baseball game.
The camp participants will also get an opportunity
to view some of the other departments such as entomology and forestry.
"The entire campus is helping us give a well-rounded experience and
a good idea of what Purdue has to offer," said head camp counselor,
Michelle Braun. The camp participants will also be touring the greenhouses
and will see club demonstrations such as table tennis and a martial
arts club specializing in Aikido.
Although no new female campers were recruited this
year, some of the older female participants will be back. Some will
be helping in the labs and doing exploratory work. They are welcome
to go on the field trips, but they will have their own alternate activities,
said Braun. They will be doing a continuation of what they did years
ago, the study with the older girls concerns calcium absorption in African
Americans in certain age groups.
In addition to the experiences the kids get on
campus, participants will be paid $100 for the six weeks they are at
Purdue.
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