5 Things Women Need to Know About Calcium, but Don't

Photo courtesy of CN Digital Studio
Photo courtesy of CN Digital Studio

By Meryl Rothstein, Bon Appétit



We're getting mixed signals about calcium.

If you're a woman who's been to an internist in the past decade, chances are you've been told to take calcium and Vitamin-D supplements daily. But a few weeks ago, the New York Times published a story saying "Healthy Women Advised Not to Take Calcium and Vitamin D to Prevent Fractures." Huh. A few days after that, a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology declared that people who take vitamin D and calcium supplements may live longer than those who don't.

WTF.

We called Ethel Siris, director of the Toni Stabile Osteoporosis Center at Columbia University Medical Center, to ask just that.

Read More:The Top 20 Best Tasting Burger Recipes

Don't throw out your supplements just yet, Siris says. "For adequate bone health, you're much better off if you have adequate--but not extra--calcium and vitamin D in your system."

Here's what you need to do.

1. Learn your target number.
Pre-menopausal women and men under 50 should get about 1,000 mg of calcium a day. Post-menopausal women and men over 50 need about 1,200 mg a day.

2. Figure out how much calcium you get daily.
Write down what you eat for a few days and compare it to this list of calcium content for foods from The University of California San Francisco. On average, three servings of dairy a day (say yogurt for breakfast, cheese for a snack, and ice cream for dessert) will suffice. Most people get about 300 mg from their non-dairy diet (since foods like broccoli and arugula have calcium, too). Also pay attention to foods with added calcium, like some cereals and orange juices, and multivitamins. Don't worry about calculating each and every day--just figure out your average daily intake.

3. Do the math.
If you're getting, on average, between 1,000 and 1,200 mg of calcium a day from your diet, you don't need--and shouldn't take--a supplement. If you're not getting that much, take only the amount of calcium you'll need to hit that target.

Read More: The Best Store-Bought Ice Cream

4. Don't try to get it all at once.
Your body can't absorb more than 600 mg of calcium at a time. So don't bother taking 600 mg of calcium right when you eat your yogurt breakfast--you won't be able to see all its benefits. Just wait a few hours.

5. Get vitamin D, too.
It promotes calcium absorption (among other things), but it's available in very few foods. You can get vitamin D from sunshine, but since you can also get wrinkles (and, um, skin cancer) from sunshine, you're best taking a supplement. There's no consensus on exactly how much a person needs, but younger people should get about 400-500 IUs per day; older people should aim for between 1,000-2,000 IU per day.


More from Bon Appétit:

10 Snacks You Thought Were Healthy But Really Aren't
10 Quick and Easy School-Night Dinners
25 One-Bite Appetizers
Junk Food Makeover: Healthier Chicken Nuggets