What is the reason that so many people show signs of deficiency in calcium in spite of the fact that they do their best everyday to enrich calcium in their bodies? The reason is not that insufficient calcium is ingested but that the ingested calcium cannot be assimilated by the human body.

The pine-pollen calcium chewing tablet is a brand-new health-care product can prevent osteoporosis developed by the Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Company---one of the largest pharmaceutical group companies in China. This product is made by combining the pollen of masson pine and Chinese pine with pulverized shells of deep-sea oysters and other raw materials painstakingly selected by the research staff of the Group Company.

In former times, during the successive dynasties of China, pine pollen was so precious as to be considered suitable only for presentation to the emperor as a tribute, to be enjoyed by the royal family and high-ranking officials. Stress was laid at that time only on its fragrance and taste. Scientific research later showed that pine pollen is also a food of perfectly balanced nutrition. It contains rich amounts of proteins, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, active enzymes and trace elements. The contents of proteins and amino acids in pine pollen are more than 5~7 times those in eggs and milk. It is noteworthy that the amount and proportion of amino acids in it approach most closely to the model recommended for amino acid content by the Food and Agriculture Organization of UNO, and pine pollen is, therefore, praised as "the natural treasure-house of condensed nutrition". Frequent eating of pine pollen can increase the immunity of the body, prevent cardiovascular diseases, ward off osteoporosis, resist the aging process and enhance beauty. In view of these benefits, pine pollen has come to be esteemed as a daily necessity of all people, both male and female, young and old.

As regards the pulverized shell of the oyster, its high efficacy in health protection is by no means a new discovery. Traditional Chinese medical scholars have extolled it for many centuries. They found that it can be used to "firm up" not only the pulses but also the steps of a very weak person. Traditional Chinese medical scholars and practitioners used to make diagnoses by feeling the patients' pulse. The pulverized oyster shell might be prescribed if a patient's pulse was found to be weak in a certain manner of if the patient was seen to walk unsteadily though he/she was barely sixty years old. The physician gave the prescription despite his lack of knowledge about osteoporosis and without knowing that the oyster shell contains calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate and calcium sulphate. The question why calcium in the pulverized oyster shell could have been absorbed so well by the patient as to "firm him/her up" and make him/her walk about steadily again was certainly beyond the physician's imagination and, as a matter of fact, could never have been even dreamed of by him.

Modern investigations, however, have suggested that calcium, in its various forms of chemical combination with other elements in the oyster's shell, must be easier for human beings to absorb. Since pine pollen was often prescribed to treat anorexia if the patient was rich enough to afford the high price, we may infer now that it was certainly considered beneficial to the human digestive system. Some traditional Chinese medical practitioners believe that the pine pollen can facilitate the deposition of calcium in the bone. Otherwise, the calcium administered to an old patient might soon be excreted in the urine and the patient's bone mass could not seem to increase so fast, the practitioners say about the past. It is a well-known fact at present that in primary osteoporosis bone mass may be reduced by 40 to 50 per cent before symptoms or signs of the disease become evident. Recent investigations have suggested that the main aetiological factor is a prolonged deficiency of calcium resulting from inadequate intake, diminished absorption from the gut or increased excretion in the urine. Pine pollen in the chewing tablet serves to improve the digestive system and to prevent the loss of calcium through the renal system. In the past, traditional Chinese medical practitioners encouraged old patients to engage as much as possible in shadowboxing not because they knew that a prolonged sedentary state promotes the loss of calcium from bone and muscle, but because they had learned from experience and observation that old people should lead an active life for as long as possible. In the same way they had learned that pine pollen and pulverized oyster shell could help old people get rid of what we now call osteoporosis.

Pharmacological experiments proved that pine pollen contains large quantities of antioxidation substances, such as vitamin E, carotene and the trace element selenium. After entering into the human body, pine pollen can inhibit reactions which form peroxides of both fat and proteins within the body, step up the power of the body to clear itself of free radicals, and at the same time to clear away the speckles on the surface of the skin and to inhibit the aging of tissue cells, so as to effect resistance to aging and elevation of the immunity of the human body.

Pine pollen has the salient effect of resisting aging, which is shown in its ability to clear away free radicals. What a female fears most is the appearance of wrinkles on her skin, which is a sign of a person's becoming old. The pine pollen in the tablet has the additional benefit of promoting metabolism and removing gradually the wrinkles and speckles on the skin besides strengthening the bones.