Good nutrition with a wide variety of foods is critical to overall health and healthy bones. Healthy bones need a variety of nutrients including calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, and others. Calcium plays an important role in muscle contraction, blood clotting, and bone health. When your diet provides enough calcium, your body deposits it in your bones, where it rebuilds and strengthens bone tissue. Bone formation starts in childhood, increases during adolescence, and continues until about age 25. After 25, your daily calcium intake helps maintain bone health. If calcium levels in the body drop below normal, calcium will be taken from bones and put into the blood to be used for other body functions. That's why it's important at all ages to consume enough calcium to maintain adequate levels in the body.

Nearly half of U.S. children and adults do not eat enough calcium, and more than 80 percent of women in Maricopa County get less than the daily recommended levels of calcium. The 2011 report from the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, recommends the following amounts of calcium per day for various ages.

The National Institute of Health Consensus conference and the National Osteoporosis Foundation support a higher calcium intake of 1,500 milligrams per day for postmenopausal women not taking estrogen and adults 65 years or older. Daily intake of calcium should not exceed 2,500 mg daily for people up to 50 years old, and 2,000 mg/day for people 51 years or older . In addition, the body can only absorb 500mg of calcium from food or supplements at a time. Therefore, calcium intake should be spaced out throughout the day.

Everyone needs calcium in their diet, everyday, to build and maintain healthy bones. Milk and foods made from milk are the most concentrated sources of calcium. One cup of reduced fat milk has 300 mg of calcium and one cup of nonfat yogurt has 490 mg. Some people avoid milk products because they don't like these foods, do not eat any animal products, or have lactose intolerance. Calcium fortified juices, cereals and pasta have 300 to 400 mg calcium per serving

Milk Matters - for "Tweens," Kids 9 -13
Do you think that calcium isn't important for you?Think again!
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/milk/prob/Pages/critical.aspx

Publications
To view the following documents you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not, you can obtain one by clicking on the button below. For instructions on how to download and use Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here.

• Calcium Supplement Guidelines (4 pp.) PDF Version 483 kb
• Calcium: A Simple Guide (4 pp.) PDF Version 460 kb
• Milk Upsets My Stomach (2 pp.) PDF Version 469 kb
• Eating for Bone Health (8 pp.) PDF Version 295 kb
• Weak Bones (2 pp.) PDF Version 496 kb
• Calcium and Calorie Content of Selected Foods (4 pp.) PDF Version 769 kb
• Osteoporosis - PDF Version 450 kb
• Contenido de Calcio y Calorias de Comidas Elegidas (Spanish) (5 pp.) PDF Version

Calcium Supplement Guidelines
Calcium Combination Products - PDR Website
Osteporosis Prevention and Treatment - PDR Website

FAQ about Nutrition

• Which foods have more calcium?
• I can't/don't drink milk, what can I do to protect my bones?
• How do I find the calcium content of a labeled food?
• Do you have recipes that are high in calcium?
• Do I need a calcium supplement?
• How does vitamin D affect bones?
• Should teenagers be concerned about nutrition?
• Do children need high calcium diets?

[Top]