The importance of calcium in your diet

All of us need calcium to build and maintain healthy bones. The mineral also helps our heart beat, our muscles to contract and our blood to clot and the amount we need changes as we get older.

As we age, our bone loss accelerates and conditions such as osteoporosis can develop if our bones are weaker due to lack of calcium.

Our bodies do not produce calcium, so it’s extremely important, especially for the elderly, that we get enough of it from the food we eat. We also need to maintain good levels of vitamin D by eating things like eggs and red meat to help our bodies absorb calcium from foods. You can read more about the importance of vitamin D here.

The best source comes from dairy products such as milk, yogurt and cheese. Parmesan cheese contains the most calcium with 33% of your daily recommended intake.

Poppy, sesame or chia seeds contain more than 10% of the daily recommended intake.

Beans and lentils are ideal as they are high in fiber and vitamins and white beans are a good source of calcium.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends that women age 50 and older need a total of 1,200mg of calcium every day.

It also recommends men under the age of 71 need a total of 1,000mg and those over the age of 71 need a total of 1,200mg every day.

For more general advice on eating well, you can read our blog post here.