calcium - daily requirement?

I'm 33 years old, female and wondering if anyone knows how many mg of calcium I'm supposed to intake daily. Thank you!

Mon. Aug 20, 3:15pm

Your daily need

adult men and women require 700mg a of milk a day - if you don't get this maybe take vitamins with added calcium....hope this helps

Monday, August 20, 2007, 3:33 PM

you are equating milk with calcium. There are a zillion ways of getting calcium without having to have milk.

Monday, August 20, 2007, 3:37 PM

Milk isn't the only source of calcium, in fact, it's the worst way to get your calcium intake. Make an effort to get your calcium from green, leafy vegetables, sesame seeds, beans, even a 1/2 cup of raisins have 60 mg. A cup of tofu has 300 mg.

19 - 50 year old women need 1000mg of calcium a day. breastfeeding, pregnancy requirements are higher.

Monday, August 20, 2007, 3:37 PM

We need to consume 1000-1200mg calcium for our bodies to absorb what we need. Also, there's no point consuming more than 500mg at once because that's all we can process - the rest gets eliminated.

Milk isn't the worst choice - that only applies to people with an allergy or intolerance. Ignore the anti-dairy brigade, they have their own agenda. I mean, seriously, you'd have to eat 7 cups of raw broccoli (210 cals) to get the calcium equivalent of 8oz of milk (80 cals for skim) - how is that a good source? If the prospect of one 8oz glass of milk and 3oz cheese a day sounds unappealing, calcium-enriched orange juice is a good alternative.

Monday, August 20, 2007, 3:54 PM

sesame seeds

You only need a couple of tablespoons of sesame seeds a day to meet that. The previous p[oster didn't do his homework very well... A teaspoon of seeds has more calcium than a glass of milk. Just add to rice, pasta, sauces, even smoothies to get all you need.

I'm not the anti-milk brigade either, just a dietician/nutritionist.

Monday, October 8, 2007, 3:39 PM

3:39, I don't understand. According to fitday.com, you would need to consume nearly 600 calories' worth of sesame seeds (that's way more than "a couple of tablespoons"...that's like three quarters of a cup!) to get your RDA of calcium. You could get the same amount of calcium from about 300 calories of skim milk or nonfat plain yogurt. It sounds like milk has a higher density of calcium than sesame seeds, calorie per calorie. So how is it possible that a TEASPOON of sesame seeds has more calcium than a whole glass of milk?!

Monday, October 8, 2007, 9:41 PM

@3:54: It's not true that you'd have to eat 7 cups of raw broccoli to equal the calcium of one cup of milk. A stalk of broccoli has nearly half the calcium of a glass of milk, so it's a decent source.

A cup of cooked spinach has about the same amount of calcium as a cup of milk. So does a cup of soymilk.

And all of these come without the high amounts of animal fat that milk has ... and the fat in milk has been shown to block the absorption of calcium, so you can't compare the amount of calcium in milk to the better sources mentioned above.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007, 4:49 AM

Depending on the source of your info (I've checked the CalorieWiki here as well as the National Institute of Health), 1 cup of raw broccoli provides 3-5% of the RDA for calcium and about 40 calories. An 8oz cup of skim milk provides 30% of your RDA for calcium and 80-90 calories. Do the math.

And that "nutritionist" who thinks that sesame seeds are a viable source of calcium needs to go back and do 3rd grade math. To get the calcium equivalent of 8oz of skim milk (30%), you'd need to eat about 1/4 cup (1.25oz) @ 200+ calories, which, by the way, contain 18g "healthy fats".

Tuesday, October 9, 2007, 11:09 AM

A glass of milk actually has around 300 mg of calcium whilst a teaspoon of sesame seeds only has 88mg... I'm pretty sure 88 is less than 300, but since you're a dietician/nutritionist I'll blindly follow your advice and assume I'm just not so good at math.

Another interesting thing about calcium is that you need vitamin D to absorb it, milk has vitamin D, sesame seeds do not.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 11:40 PM

On top of trying to get calcium by eating yogurt and drinking milk (barely drink) I take 2 viactiv calcium caramel chews a day. You get the calcium you need plus they are delicious! They really taste like soft caramels - I hate taking pills, so this is perfect for me.

Link

Thursday, October 22, 2009, 5:49 PM

Take one calcium tablet twice a day and you won't be trying to build your diet around calcium intake. And while you're at it, take a multivitamin!

Thursday, October 22, 2009, 9:59 PM

P.S. Take the calcium tablets that have Vitamin D in them. You have to have Vitamin D to absorb the cacium. And estrogen too, If you are peri- or post- menopausal you should consult your physician for a regimen to maintain your bone health.

Thursday, October 22, 2009, 10:02 PM

I am 51, have always been active, grew up in Fla where I got LOTS of Vit D. I eat an extremely clean diet, lift weights. This past June I had an ankle fracture, my first broken bone ever. I recently had my 1st bone density screening and I was told I have Osteopenia, the precurssor to Osteoporosis. I have been taking 1200 mg of Calcium, twice a day for years. Eat dark green leafies every day. And I say all of this to encourage women to be extremely dilligent with calcium intake. My best friend said she thought my bones should be made out of steel, considering all that I do...apparently it wasn't enough.

Friday, October 23, 2009, 11:01 AM

11:01 a.m.: You have been doing what's right, but your estrogen level has probably dropped, resulting in the drop in your bone density. We have drugs now that are useful in this situation.

Friday, October 23, 2009, 10:22 PM

Thanks 10:22 but I/m doing this au natural

Friday, October 23, 2009, 10:25 PM

To 11:01 PM and 10:25 PM:

"Au Natural" = hip fractures, wrist fractures, vertebral fractures, douager's hump, back pain...

First comes the osteopenia, then the osteoporosis. One follows on the heel of the other. (Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun!)

Here's a picture of what osteoporotic bones look like: http://www.osteofoundation.org/images/osteoporosis-causes-weak-bones.bmp

We're in the 21st Century. Take advantage of what true science has made available to us to make our lives better.

Saturday, October 24, 2009, 9:58 AM

Thanks for your concern. My mother has osteoporosis and has lost so much bone in her jaw from the medications she has taken for it that she has lost teeth. She has an ulcer from Fosamax.

I don't see menopause as a disease that needs to be treated. I am doing all I can but my preference is to not medicate a natural process. I understand others feel differently and I respect that.

Saturday, October 24, 2009, 8:47 PM

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