April 3, 2003

Keep Calcium in Your Diet, Especially as Years Pass

BLACKSBURG -- Women, how many of you can positively say you get three servings of calcium a day? Calcium is important in building strong bones and women begin losing bone mass around the age of 30 and that it continues through menopause.

Statistics show that at least 75 percent of women over the age of 35 are not consuming an adequate amount of calcium according to the American Dietetic Association. Adults over 19 need 1,000 milligrams of calcium a day; pregnant or nursing women need 1,300. Post-menopausal women, who are 51 years old and older, need 1,300 daily to help maintain bone density. But most adult women consume even less calcium during adolescence than they did as youngsters.

More Information Calcium, Vitamin D, and Your Health

Approximately 25 percent of women over the age of 50 years suffer from osteoporosis due to youthful years of not consuming enough calcium on a daily basis. Youngsters should consume three servings of food with calcium. In adolescence women should increase their calcium intake to four servings a day. As adults, women should have three servings daily and again when women reach 51 years of age and older, they should have four servings.

Virginia Cooperative Extension as well as other nutrition education organizations are promoting a "3 A Day" program to encourage people to eat a variety of dairy foods, said Kathleen Stadler, Virginia Cooperative Extension foods and nutrition specialist at Virginia Tech. The 3 A Day program is to help people learn about the foods that provide calcium and how to make sure three of these foods are in their daily diets.

If you possibly fall into the category of women not consuming enough calcium, it is important for you to start paying attention to your calcium intake immediately, said Virginia Cooperative Extension foods and nutrition specialists.

Dairy products are an excellent source of calcium. Non-fat and low-fat milk and cheeses offer good choices to get calcium without increasing saturated fat intake. One 8-ounce serving of milk or a slice of processed cheese or an ounce of hard cheese has approximately 200 milligrams of calcium.

Low-fat yogurt is another way to increase the amount of calcium in your diet. Plain yogurt has 415 milligrams of calcium per 8-ounce serving.

There are other sources of calcium such as calcium fortified orange juice. Individuals that are lactose intolerant can get calcium from such foods as almonds, broccoli, and greens, in addition to calcium fortified foods.

Although getting calcium from the foods in the diet is a must; other activities will help build bone density and further offset the risk of developing osteoporosis.

Getting more vitamin D will increase the amount of calcium absorbed by your bones. Without vitamin D, only ten percent of dietary calcium may be absorbed as compared to thirty percent with vitamin D. An easy way to get vitamin D is being outdoors. The sun is an excellent source of the vitamin D, but remember to wear sunscreen. Dietary sources include foods such as cod liver oil, fatty fish, and fortified milk and cereal.

Weight bearing exercise helps to build bone density and slow bone loss. Weight bearing exercise includes any activity that involves being on your feet with your bones supporting weight. Some examples are walking, jogging, running, stair climbing, skipping rope, skiing, and impact-producing sports. Swimming and biking are good exercises but are not beneficial to the bones because you are not supporting your own weight.

Estrogen builds small amounts of bone as well. However, like the other bone-building methods, enough calcium in the diet is crucial to the success of this strategy.

Contact: Kathleen Stadler
Virginia Cooperative Extension nutrition spcialist
Virginia Tech
(540) 231-8768
stadler@vt.edu

Information: Mary Ann H. Johnson
Agriculture and Extension Communications
Virginia Tech
(540) 231-6975
jnayram@vt.edu

This article was written by Kristy Noel, Fredericksburg, who is an intern with Agriculture and Extension Communications at Virginia Tech.

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