Sneak in Calcium
Bone Loss Prevention
If you don’t like milk or can’t tolerate it because of lactose intolerance, the following tips will help. If you think creatively, you can sneak calcium into your diet in dozens of ways. Here are just a few ways to increase the calcium in your diet.
- Make creamy soups (homemade or canned) with milk or evaporated milk.
- Use evaporated milk (which has twice the calcium) in food preparation such as when making mashed potatoes, pudding, cream sauces, etc. Eat dairy based desserts such as pudding frozen yogurt, milkshakes and parfaits made by layering fruit and yogurt.
- Add reduced-fat cheese to your mashed potatoes, vegetables, pasta, sandwiches and sauces.
- Substitute cheese for meat in your lasagna or stuffed shells. Add molasses to homemade quick breads, cookies and pancakes (or add to your mix.) Sesame seeds and tahini (sesame seed butter) are also high in calcium and can be added to snack bars, cakes, vegetables and dips.
- Eat fish with small bones, such as sardines.
- Use tofu made with calcium in place of cheese in lasagna, or meat in chili. Or use silken tofu for puddings, dips and sauces.
- Add powdered nonfat milk to your pancake and cake batter, to your cream sauces, prepared soups and to milkshakes.
- Prepare quiche, or egg custard, which contain milk. Eat more vegetables which are good sources of calcium.
- Make a dip out of yogurt or herbed cheese spread from yogurt cheese. Add your own herbs and spices or use a packaged mix.
- Choose calcium fortified orange juice such as any pure premium orange juice with calcium. It contains 350mg of calcium in 8 ounces.
- Eat more Mexican food! Corn tortillas are a good source of calcium. Two bean and cheese tostadas have 500mg of calcium.
Sources of Calcium (mg)
- Yogurt, plain, low fat (8 oz)= 415mg.
- Collards, frozen, boiled (1 cup)= 357mg.
- Skim milk (1 cup)= 306mg.
- Spinach, frozen, boiled (1 cup)= 291mg.
- Yogurt, plain, whole milk (8 oz)= 275mg.
- Cheese food, pasteurized American (1 oz)= 162mg.
- Cottage cheese, 1% milk fat (1 cup)= 138mg.
- Baked beans, canned (1 cup)= 154mg.
- Iceberg lettuce (1 head)= 97mg.
- Canned salmon (3 oz)= 181mg.
- Oranges (1 cup)= 72mg.
- Trail mix (nuts, seeds, chocolate chips) (1 cup)= 159mg.
- Almonds (1 oz, 24 nuts)= 70mg.
- Blackeye peas, boiled (1 cup)= 211mg.
- Green peas, boiled (1 cup)= 94mg.
Calcium Supplements
How much calcium do I need?
This depends on many factors, such as, age, gender, drugs, and bone mineral density. For most people, a daily intake between 1000 and 1300 mg of calcium is both safe and potent.
Minimum daily requirements for calcium are:
Children (4-8 years) |
800 mg |
Adults (51 or older) |
1200 mg |
Teenagers (9-18 years |
1300 mg |
Pregnant or nursing women |
1200 mg |
Adults (19-50 years) |
1000mg |
Postmenopausal women |
1200-1500mg |
Foods containing calcium include:
- Dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt)
- Nuts (almonds, sesame seeds)
- Seafood (scallops, shrimp)
- Green leafy vegetables (broccoli, kale, spinach, turnip greens)
What do I need to know about calcium supplements?
If you are not able to get your daily calcium requirements from dairy products and other foods, calcium supplements are a safe and potent way to get enough calcium. Here are a few tips for choosing a calcium supplement.
- The amount of calcium in supplements varies from 200 mg to 600 mg, and should be printed on the label.
- Read the label – a supplement ‘serving’ may contain 400 mg of calcium, but that ‘serving’ may be two tablets.
- Research suggests that calcium supplements are best absorbed when taken in doses of 500 mg of calcium or less. For this reason, your calcium supplementation should most often be split over the course of the day.
- Most often, chewable tablets are absorbed better than pills that are swallowed whole.
- If you use a non-chewable pill, you can check if it can dissolve well: place the pill in a glass of warm water for 30 minutes and then stir; if the pill dissolves in the water, it should also dissolve in your stomach.
- Some people taking calcium supplements are concerned about the lead content. The FDA maximum for lead intake is 6.0 mcg/day. Lead-free calcium supplements include Tums, Walgreen’s, Equate, Nature Made, Sundown (all calcium carbonate) as well as Citracal (calcium citrate). Two well known calcium supplements that contain lead are, Caltrate (3.43 mcg/day) and OsCal (1.74 mcg/day). These amounts assume an intake of 1500 mg of calcium per day.
Should I be taking calcium carbonate or calcium citrate?
- In general, calcium carbonate costs less, and is just as effective.
- Calcium carbonate is best absorbed when taken with meals. Calcium citrate can be taken at any time.
- If constipation is an issue, calcium citrate (Citracal) maybe a better choice for some people.
- Most experts suggest that patients taking drugs that block stomach acid (this includes medications such as Zantac, Pepcid, Prilosec, or Protonix, but these are not all of the drugs) take calcium citrate rather than calcium carbonate.
Vitamin D - How much do I need?
If you have been told to take a vitamin D supplement, a dose between 400-800 International Units (IU) per day is safe and potent. Older patients should take the 800 IU/day dose. Almost all multivitamins contain 400 IU/day. Also, many vitamin D supplements can be bought at most drug stores, food stores, and health food stores. Many calcium supplements also contain vitamin D in the right amount.
Can I get my vitamin D requirements from foods?
Very few foods are naturally rich in vitamin D. Milk is most often fortified with 125 IU of vitamin D per glass. There is also some vitamin D in eggs, organ meats, and fish such as salmon, sardines, and herring. Vitamin D is also manufactured in the skin right after direct exposure to sunlight. Sunlight exposure to the hands, face and arms for as little as 5-15 minutes, 2-3 times per week is helpful to produce vitamin D.
Source: Calcium and Vitamin D: Patient Education Handout associate with UMHS Clinical Care Guideline – May 2002
Information maintained by the UMHS Clinical Care Guideline Committee – University of Michigan Health System: 734-936-4000
Copyright 2005 Regents of the University of Michigan.
