How much calcium you need per day — plus the top non-dairy sources
By Chloe Warren (ABC life)
You may not know this, but your bones are a bit like a bank.
Except this bank contains almost 99
per cent of your body's calcium.
And like any bank, you want to make
sure that you are making more deposits than withdrawals.
Every day your body is withdrawing
from your calcium bank (yep, your bones) to ensure your heart, muscles, blood
and nerves are healthy and functioning properly.
If your body is not getting
enough calcium from your diet to meet its needs, it reacts by
'withdrawing' calcium from your 'bone bank'. Over time these withdrawals will
add up (don't they always) and your bone strength will decline, putting you at
risk of osteoporosis later in life.
This is all a very long-winded way of
saying, calcium is incredibly important and because of this constant turnover, it's
important to hit those daily requirements. And there are plenty of ways to get
your calcium — even if you're not someone who eats or drinks dairy.
But more than half of the Australian
population is not getting enough Calcium. In particular, it is women who are missing
out.
Even though dairy products are
recommended as best source of calcium (as well as protein, potassium,
magnesium, phosphorous, zinc and vitamins A, B1, B2 and B12), you can't ignore
the fact that many people are ditching dairy in favour of plant-based or
lactose-free alternatives.
"It's a mineral that's really
essential for our bodies. We all know about calcium and bone health — that
includes teeth — but it's also important for other functions, like conducting
nerve impulses around the body," explains Aloysa Hourigan, senior
nutritionist with Nutrition Australia.
Calcium can be a finicky little
dietary requirement, though; just how much you need depends on your age and
gender.
Who
|
Calcium (mg/day)
|
Serves
|
Children 1-3 years
|
500
|
1-2
|
Children 4-8 years
|
700
|
2
|
Children 9-11 years
|
1,000
|
3
|
Children 12-18 years
|
1,300
|
4+
|
Adult women 19-50 years
|
1,000
|
3
|
Adult women 51+ years
|
1,300
|
4+
|
Adult men 19-70 years
|
1,000
|
3
|
Adult men 71+ years
|
1,300
|
4+
|
Your calcium intake earlier in life
is really about making a deposit into your bone bank.
"Until about the age of 30
you're still laying down bone, and then you're just maintaining what you've
got," says Amanda Devine, Professor of Public Health Nutrition at Edith
Cowan University.
"Around menopause you tend to
lose bone more rapidly — in men, that just happens later. It's really important
that throughout life you really try and optimise what bone we've got."
This is especially important when we
consider Australia's ageing population.
"Bone breakages after a fall can
be devastating for older people. Once you've had a break it can be very hard to
get back to that same quality of life as before," explains Professor
Devine.
"We are all living longer —
women can live a third of their lives in their menopausal years — so we are
only going to see this issue even more."
Menopause has a big impact on just
how much calcium we need. That's because women experience a huge drop in
oestrogen, and that particular hormone is protective for bone health.
So now we know. Calcium is great.
Adults need between 2-4 serves a day
of dairy.
"A serve of might be a cup of
milk, a couple of slices of cheese, or a pot of yoghurt," says Professor
Devine.
Remember, low-fat dairy options have
just as much calcium in them as full-fat options.
But what if you don't dig dairy?
Bony fish are a great source — that's
things like sardines or salmon.
For vegans and vegetarians, there are
plenty of other ways to get your calcium. Eating a hearty mix of leafy greens
will do it, and tofu, tahini and calcium-fortified plant milks are good sources
as well.
Good
sources of calcium — dairy and non-dairy
Good dietary sources of calcium
include:
- Milk and milk products: Milk,
yoghurt, cheese and buttermilk. One cup of milk, a 200g tub of yoghurt or
200ml of calcium-fortified soymilk provides around 300mg calcium.
Calcium-fortified milks can provide larger amounts of calcium in a smaller
volume of milk — ranging from 280mg to 400mg per 200ml milk.
- Leafy green vegetables: Broccoli,
collards (cabbage family), bok choy, Chinese cabbage and spinach. One cup
of cooked spinach contains 100mg, although only 5 per cent of this may be
absorbed. This is due to the high concentration of oxalate, a compound in
spinach that reduces calcium absorption. By contrast, one cup of cooked
broccoli contains about 45mg of calcium, but the absorption from broccoli
is much higher at around 50-60 per cent.
- Soy and tofu: Tofu
(depending on type; check the label as calcium levels vary) or tempeh and
calcium-fortified soy drinks (look for those with at least 120mg of
calcium per 100ml).
- Fish: Sardines
and salmon (with bones). Half a cup of canned salmon contains 402mg of
calcium.
- Nuts and seeds: Brazil
nuts, almonds and sesame seed paste (tahini). There's about 110mg of
calcium in 50g of almonds.
- Calcium-fortified foods: These
include breakfast cereals, fruit juices and bread. One cup of
calcium-fortified breakfast cereal (40g) contains up to 200mg of calcium.
Half a cup of calcium-fortified orange juice (100ml) contains up to 80mg
of calcium, and two slices of bread (30g) provides 200mg of calcium.
Lactose intolerant or vegan then
what?
"Soy beverages would be a way to
go. Some of the other rice milks, almond milks and oat milks are good, but soy
milk is really the most nutritionally similar to normal milk," explains
Professor Devine.
Whatever option you go for as far as alternative milks, it's
important to check the label. You want for the beverage to be fortified with
calcium, as well as any other key nutrients you might want.
Just make sure to give the carton a
shake before pouring it over your cereal or coffee.
"Because of how manufacturers
add the nutrients in, some of it can sit in the sediment at the bottom [of the
carton]," says Professor Devine.
As with most nutrients, it's
generally better to try to work calcium into your diet than to go straight for
a supplement. A balanced diet comes with a whole host of advantages that a
collection of pills can't really replicate. That being said, if you're really
struggling to meet your intake, supplements will do the trick.
Can you
have too much calcium?
The jury is still out on this one.
There is some evidence that shows too much calcium can contribute to aortic
calcification — that's buildup of the mineral on the inner walls of the heart.
Overall, though, the benefits of
calcium seem to outweigh the risks, so health guidelines tends to lean towards
making sure you get enough of it rather than making sure you don't get too
much.
Hopefully by now we can all agree
that calcium is fairly important. However, even if you eat the right foods,
that's only going to get you part of the way towards optimal bone health.
"If your vitamin D is low, then
your ability to absorb calcium is much poorer," Ms Hourigan says.
So get out in the sunshine! But be sensible, please — avoid those
peak UV times in the middle of the day. The Australian sun is not kind.
Fairer skinned folk should get around
40 minutes a day during winter, and only around six minutes in summer. People
with darker skin can aim for four hours in the winter, and a maximum of 40
minutes in summer.
Of course, no health article can be
complete without this little reminder either.
We all need regular exercise.
"Bone density responds to what
the body is doing: so if it's sitting down playing computer games all day then
that's as good as it's going to get," says Professor Devine.
We should all be incorporating
regular exercise into our routines: but that's not news to anyone.
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