Could Your High Dose Calcium Supplement Actually be Harming You?

Consider the following dietary sources of calcium:

* 1 cup milk 300 mg
* 1 cup calcium-fortified orange juice 300 mg
* 1 cup low-fat yogurt 345-400 mg
* 1 ounce of cheddar cheese has about 204 mg
* 1 cup cottage cheese 300 mg
* ½ cup cooked beans 45-113 mg
* ½ cup cooked spinach 115 mg
* ½ cup cooked broccoli 35 mg

You can see that two servings of yogurt, one serving of milk, and one ounce of cheese contain about 1300 mg of calcium. If you add daily vegetable and bean sources of calcium and various vitamin-mineral and calcium/vitamin D supplements you may well be exceeding the daily Adequate Intake (AI) for calcium and may also be exceeding the daily Upper Intake Level (UL). Is calcium deficiency really as likely as we have been led to believe?

The recommended adequate intake for calcium in adults is between 1000 - 1300 mg, and the daily upper intake limit is 2500 mg.

Calcium content of commonly eaten foods from UCSF: https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/calcium-content-of-foods

In Good Health,
Rick Wagner, M.S. C.N.
April 2021