Calcium plays a crucial role in bone and tooth formation, blood clotting, nerve and muscle function and normal heart rhythms, reports The Merck Manual of Medical Information. It also helps women reduce their risk of osteoporosis. To obtain enough calcium in your diet, you should eat food with about 800mg of calcium daily. The principal sources of calcium in the diet are milk and milk products, meat, fish, eggs, cereal, beans, fruits and vegetables.
Calcium Deficiencies
According to "Essentials for Health and Wellness," roughly 50 percent of American adults don't cosume enough calcium through their diet, although it "is readily obtained in the diet." People with hypertension especially need to eat more calcium. Other populations that don't get enough calcium in their diets include African Americans, pregnant women, obese people and elderly people.
Postmenopausal Women
After experiencing menopause, which generally occurs when women are in their late 40s or early 50s, women need 1,400mg of calcium daily in order to prevent bone loss and osteoporosis. "The Well Adult" explains that an extra 600mg of calcium is needed because postmenopausal women "absorb calcium from digested food in the bowel much less efficiently." Postmenopausal women get only 550mg of calcium daily, on average.
Calcium Is Fatty
A primary reason that people don't get enough calcium in their diets is that foods with calcium are often very fatty, reports "Nutripoints: A New Guide To Simple, Healthy Eating." One cup of canned, condensed or sweetened milk, for example, has 982 calories and 243 of those calories are from fat and 153 from saturated fat, the worst kind of fat. Most cheeses are also very fatty. One ounce of cheddar cheese, for example, has only 114 calories, but 85 of those come from fat and 54 of those from saturated fat.
Healthy Calcium
There is so much calcium in dairy products that "Nutripoints" reports that you can get adequate calcium by eating low-fat yogurt, low-fat milk and low-fat cottage cheese. Low-fat yogurt has 452mg of calcium per serving, more than half of your daily requirement, according to "The Well Adult." One serving of low-fat milk and low-fat cottage cheese has 350mg and 211mg of calcium respectively. You can supplement these foods by eating low-fat foods like oatmeal (188), salmon (170), broccoli (160) and tofu (150).
Hypercalcemia
An excess amount of calcium in the blood or hypercalcemia is a rare but potentially dangerous condition that can be caused by drinking too much milk, reports The Merck Manual. You are also at risk if you regularly use antacid tablets. People with hypercalcemia can develop high blood pressure, nausea, kidney stones and constipation. People with very severe hypercalcemia can become emotionally disturbed, confused and delirious.
References
- "Nutripoints: A New Guide To Simple, Healthy Eating"; Dr. Roy E. Vartabedian and Kathy Matthews; 1991
- "The Well Adult"; Dr. Mike Samuels and Nancy Samuels; 1988
- The Merck Manual of Medical Information; 1999
- "Essentials for Health and Wellness"; Gordon Edlin, Eric Golanty, and Kelli McCormack Brown; 2000
- "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program For Reversing Heart Disease"; Dr. Dean Ornish; 1996
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