When daily nutrition ebbs, or concerns about bone and teeth health grow, improving dietary calcium levels can help. By getting extra calcium content from foods, rather than from supplements, your diet will benefit from additional food nutrients that aid in the body's absorption of minerals and vitamins.
You can add calcium-rich foods to menus in order to achieve the 1,000 mg daily average recommended by the FDA. Similar foods in related groups may also pump up mineral stores. The USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggests choosing both natural and enriched food sources of calcium.
Cereal
Cereal bars, such as Kellogg's Nutri-Grain, and cooked farina, such as B&G Foods Cream of Wheat, provide 20 percent of the daily value (DV) for calcium in one serving, according to the USDA Nutrient Database. Some ready-to-eat cereals, including General Mills Total varieties, are enriched to a full 100 percent DV level per suggested serving. Whole-grain cereal food sources also offer high fiber and vitamin content.
Yogurt
Yogurt represents the rich calcium and vitamin D values of all dairy foods, with high calcium content of nearly 50 percent DV in a 1-cup, fat-free serving. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) compares this mineral value to that of milk shakes, which contain similar calcium levels but larger amounts of unhealthy fat and sugar. Everyday calcium-rich foods include nonfat or reduced-fat milk and cheeses such as Swiss, provolone and cheddar, which provide from 20 to 30 percent DV in 1-cup liquid or 1-oz. solid servings, per the USDA.
Spinach
Cooked spinach makes a rich dietary calcium addition to your menus, with 29 percent DV in 1 cup. Like other leafy greens, spinach is also rich in iron, magnesium, potassium and fiber. The USDA includes collard, turnip and beet greens as potent calcium food sources.
Sardines
Like humans, fish store dietary calcium in their bones, making sardines a rich food source of this mineral for humans, the NIH notes. Canned sardines render the tiny bones edible, providing as much as 33 percent DV in calcium content per 3-oz. serving.
Cheeseburgers
Fast-food cheeseburgers may be high in fat, salt and cholesterol, but they also deliver high calcium content. A double-patty sandwich may derive calcium from cheese and an enriched bun, as well as lower levels from beef. The USDA estimates mineral amounts at 28 percent DV of calcium per serving.
Orange Juice
Prepared orange juice fortified with calcium adds significant amounts to daily totals. The NIH relates that a 6-oz. glass of this type of juice provides as much as 26 percent DV of dietary calcium in a single menu item.
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