Calcium: It’s Not Just in Milk!
You’ve probably heard that drinking milk "does a body good," but have you ever wondered why? The short answer is because milk is a great source of calcium. And most of us know calcium is great at keeping our bones strong and resistant to breaking and osteoporosis (bone loss) the older we get. However, drinking milk isn’t for everyone. For one, some people are lactose intolerant or otherwise allergic; two, some studies have shown that drinking milk can have certain adverse health effects; and three, some people think that milk plain and simple tastes gross. The good news is you’re not pigeonholed into drinking milk and eating milk products when you decide to make calcium a priority in your diet.
Plenty of other foods and drinks are great at stocking your body with much-needed calcium. And that’s important, because 1 in 2 women and 1 in 4 men over the age of 50 will fall and break a bone due to osteoporosis, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Some of those foods and drinks include: calcium-enriched soy drinks, broccoli, watercress, okra, curly kale, red kidney beans, chickpeas, green beans, salmon, apricots and figs, according to the International Osteoporosis Foundation. You might also try incorporating certain nuts, like almonds and Brazil nuts, which are also a good source of calcium. If you need an organized list, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services actually provides a helpful grocery list specifically for people who want to build strong bones.
Some people think the calcium-rich foods mentioned on the above list constitute a little too much "rabbit food" for their tastes. If this is the case for you, you also have the option of taking calcium capsules. But taking just one a day may not be enough. Women ages 19 to 50 need at least 1,000 mg of calcium daily, according to the DHHS, so you should check how many milligrams of calcium are in each capsule. You may need to take one capsule in the morning and another in the afternoon. Girls and women over the age of 50 need even more calcium than this, as these are the times when bones are developing or, in the case of older women, showing signs of weakening.
The point is, just because you don’t enjoy or can’t eat milk and milk products doesn’t mean you have no other options for taking in regular calcium. Seek out other calcium-rich foods to keep your bones healthy and strong.
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
