The holiday season is a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with friends and family while creating lasting memories, for children and aging parents alike. There are always the usual stresses that arise this time of year, like making sure gifts are bought, meals are sorted, and activities are planned to keep everyone happy. However, […]
Calcium, and various vitamins and nutrients, are essential to an individual’s overall health and wellbeing. In the earlier stages of growth and development, calcium is especially important in order to build healthy, strong bones.
However, as we age and our diets/lifestyles change, it can become increasingly difficult to maintain a healthy calcium intake that ensures our bones continue to remain strong in later years. In many cases, a prolonged deficiency of calcium and vitamin D can lead to osteoporosis, as the element becomes essential in maintaining a healthy level of bone density. Therefore, when the body is not absorbing enough calcium, it begins depleting the mineral from your bones.
According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, this makes a healthy calcium intake crucial. While it is a bodily necessity, we are unable to actually produce it ourselves. We are only able to obtain the mineral through certain foods and, should they become necessary, supplements.
So just how much calcium do you really need? The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends women ages 50 and under need only 1,000 mg a day, while this same amount applies to men 70 years old and younger. However, women over the age of 51 and men over the age of 71 need an intake of at least 1,200 mg of calcium a day.
It’s not as easy as knowing how much calcium you need, it’s knowing just how much calcium your diet permits. Food labels don’t often include the amount of calcium in a single item as a specific amount. Rather, they include the measure as a percentage. Therefore if a specific dish contains 25% of a daily serving of calcium for a woman under 50, the food would contain around 250 mg’s of Calcium.
