Reviewed by Dan Brennan, MD on October 22, 2020
Your body holds an abundance of calcium. Around 99% of this mineral is stored in your bones and teeth. The other 1% is in your blood and soft tissues. Eating foods rich in calcium is critical to growing and maintaining strong bones. It’s also an important nutrient for healthy cell function. Your body requires calcium to support muscle and nerve function, regulate blood pressure and hormone levels, as well as facilitate communication between cells. Calcium is essential for nearly every process in the body. Your body can’t produce calcium. You need to get calcium through foods and supplements, but your body can better absorb it from food. Calcium is also present in some medications such as antacids. The recommended daily amount of calcium is 1,300 milligrams (mg) per day for adults, children, as well as pregnant and lactating women. Calcium serves as a critical nutrient for: Cellular Function Your body maintains a certain level of calcium in your blood at all times, so that your cells can properly function. A dip in calcium blood levels will trigger your body to borrow calcium from your bones. Bone Health Your bones continually break down and rebuild. Before age 30, the rate that you build bone is higher than the rate that you break it down. Beyond age 30, the rates reverse. This is why people who are elderly have more brittle bones that are more at risk of breaking. Osteoporosis occurs when there is an imbalance between bone building and bone breakdown. To lower your risk of developing osteoporosis, you should strive to make the strongest, densest bones before age 30. One way to prevent bone loss after age 30 is by consuming enough calcium. This will lessen the amount your body has to take from your bones. Blood Pressure Control Calcium helps blood vessels contract and relax, and is therefore needed to maintain healthy blood pressure. Recent studies show that to get this benefit, the calcium must be sourced from food rather than supplements. Decreased Risk of Kidney Stones Calcium also prevents kidney stones from forming by decreasing the absorption of oxalates, which are found in many plant foods like spinach, beets, raspberries, and sweet potatoes. Oxalates are associated with a higher risk of developing kidney stones. Only calcium from food — not supplements — can help reduce this risk. While many supplements are available, scientists recommend that at least half of your calcium intake should come from your diet. These eight foods are some of the best sources of calcium available:
Created: October 22, 2013; Last Update: October 18, 2018; Next update: 2021. The German Osteology Association (DVO) recommends that adults get between 1,000 and 1,500 milligrams (mg) of calcium per day. You can get this amount in your diet by consuming foods and drinks that have calcium in them. Food products that are particularly high in calcium include cow's milk, yoghurt, cheeses like gouda and emmental cheese, green vegetables such as spinach and broccoli, as well as calcium-rich mineral water (more than 150 mg calcium per liter). Dairy products made from low-fat cow's milk also contain a lot of calcium. Some food products, such as certain breakfast cereals and juices, are fortified with calcium. If you eat and drink the following foods over the course of one day you will get a total of about 1,000 mg of calcium:
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If you do not drink cow's milk or eat dairy products made from cow's milk, it will be considerably more difficult for you to get enough calcium in your diet. In that case, suitable sources of calcium would include green vegetables like spinach leaves, green cabbage, fennel and broccoli, as well as soy milk, nuts, calcium-rich mineral water and food products that are fortified with calcium. This table can help you to calculate roughly how much calcium you get in a typical day: For example, one pot of yoghurt (200 ml) contains about 260 mg calcium, and one serving of cooked spinach contains about 310 g calcium. Please note that this table only includes food products that have a particularly large amount of calcium in them. A lot of other food products contain calcium too and contribute to your total calcium intake, but usually to a lesser extent. Dietary supplements are not included in the table. If you are taking a supplement that contains calcium, that will increase your calcium intake accordingly. You can also use our online calcium calculator to find out roughly how much calcium you are getting per day. The calculator is not suitable for children or women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Sources
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