Calcium is most effective when it comes from the food you eat. Use our guide to identify convenient sources.
Many people take daily calcium supplement pills. However, two studies published in February 2013 add to the concern that regular use of high-dose calcium supplements may increase the risk of heart disease.
More Top Picks Best Camping Cots For Adults
“Based on everything we know so far,” says Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital, “the best advice is for adults to try to get 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium per day from foods. Most people get about 700 milligrams of calcium in the diet. So if you can’t increase calcium-rich foods to get to your goal, use
low-dose
calcium supplement pills to make up the differenceâ??often only 500 milligrams per day in supplements will be needed.”
| Food | Serving size | Calcium (mg*) |
| Skim, 1%, or 2% milk | 1 cup | 285â??306 mg |
| Low-fat fruit yogurt |
8 ounces | 345 mg |
| Swiss cheese | 1 ounce | 224 mg |
| Canned sardines with bones | 4 ounces | 325 mg |
| Canned salmon with bones | 3 ounces | 181 mg |
| Firm tofu | 1/4 block | 163 mg |
| Cooked yellowin tuna | 3 ounces | 18 mg More Top Picks Weather Headaches And Barometric Pressure Migraines Explained |
| Boiled kale | 1/2 cup | 47 mg |
| Cooked spinach | 1 cup | 245 mg |
| Adapted from the USDA *mg = milligrams |
Calcium and heart disease
So are calcium supplements helpful or harmful? There is strong evidence that the combination of calcium (from diet alone or from a combination of diet and supplements) plus vitamin D helps protect against bone fractures. However, there is little evidence that calcium supplements taken alone achieve such bone benefits. In addition, a recent pooled randomized trial suggested that there’s a 30% increased risk of heart and other blood vessel disease, but that evidence is neither convincing nor conclusive.
A recent National Institutes of Healthâ??AARP Diet and Health Study followed more than 388,000 older people for 12 years and suggested that menâ??but not womenâ??who were regular calcium supplement users had an increased risk of death from heart disease, compared with nonusers. That study was an observational study that was not as rigorously designed as a randomized trial.
A study from Sweden followed more than 61,000 women for 19 years. Women who used calcium supplements and had a total calcium intake of over 1,400 milligrams per day had more than double the risk of death from heart disease and other causes. However, the number of women with such a high calcium intake was small, making the findings less scientifically reliable.
The bottom line is that your calcium intake should come primarily from the foods you eat, and if that is insufficient, then add the right quantity of a calcium supplement in as low a dose as possible.