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How To Increase Calcium Intake In My Diet?
I am 68 years old and was told I needed more calcium in diet. If I take 1000 mg calcium in vitamin D supplement does the amount calcium fortified foods I eat daily matter. I am drinking more milk, oj, eating more yogurt, cheese and foods with more calcium. Would like to know how much is too much. I was taking calcium lactate.
Wed, 5 Feb 2014
hi,
Thank you for your query, i understand your concern and i am happy to be of help. Considering your age the calcium requirement is 1000 mg if you are a male and 1200 mg if you are a female.
Too less or too much of calcium have their side effects, too much of calcium can cause kidney stones, constipation, abdominal pain and other such problems.
It is good that you are already taking calcium in your daily diet, try and include in your diet, foods rich in calcium like milk, yogurt, cheese, fish, broccoli, cabbage,and citrus fruit juices.
Your age being above 50 there is requirement for calcium supplementation other than what you take in your diet. I would suggest you to consider taking calcium carbonate tablets ( 1 tablet will provide you with 200-400 mg of calcium). Even calcium lactate as you mentioned were taking is a good supplement option.
Get you serum calcium levels checked and get back to me with the results, then i would be able to help you with your supplement dosage.
As of now the diet of calcium rich food and a tablet of calcium supplement a day should be good.
wish you good health.
Thank you for your query, i understand your concern and i am happy to be of help. Considering your age the calcium requirement is 1000 mg if you are a male and 1200 mg if you are a female.
Too less or too much of calcium have their side effects, too much of calcium can cause kidney stones, constipation, abdominal pain and other such problems.
It is good that you are already taking calcium in your daily diet, try and include in your diet, foods rich in calcium like milk, yogurt, cheese, fish, broccoli, cabbage,and citrus fruit juices.
Your age being above 50 there is requirement for calcium supplementation other than what you take in your diet. I would suggest you to consider taking calcium carbonate tablets ( 1 tablet will provide you with 200-400 mg of calcium). Even calcium lactate as you mentioned were taking is a good supplement option.
Get you serum calcium levels checked and get back to me with the results, then i would be able to help you with your supplement dosage.
As of now the diet of calcium rich food and a tablet of calcium supplement a day should be good.
wish you good health.
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Hi and thank you so much for this query.
The recommended upper limit of daily calcium intake is 2000mg in women of your age. It would be great to evaluate the amount you take in daily from all the other sources to make sure that you are not taking more than the daily maximum limit. Excess calcium has health consequences and should not be taken in excesses. Your diet seems too rich in calcium, read the labellings and obtain the specifications from to assess your average daily intake.
I hope this addresses your query fully. Thank you so much for patronizing our services and please do feel free to ask for follow up clarifications and information if need be. I wish you the best of health.
Dr. Ditah, MD.
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