January 16, 2004, Newsletter Issue #169: Too Much Calcium?
Tip of the Week
Here are the calcium recommendations. If you are an adult under 50, you need 1000 mg/day, and this is what the food labels are based on. If you are over 50, you need 1200-1500 mg/day. Now, most sources tell you that if you take in too much, it will just be excreted in the urine. However, there is an established upper tolerable limit of 2500 mg, beyond which some people may have negative reactions. So should we all take 1000-1500 mg/day as supplements? Consider what you get in your food. Say, during the day, you have 1 ounce of cheddar cheese, a cup of calcium-fortified orange juice, a handful of almonds, a cup of yogurt, and a cup of broccoli. This comes to 1100 mg (not counting your other foods), and you didn`t even drink any milk. Of course, your body doesn`t absorb 100% of what you take in so there is some reason for flexibility. Still, supplementing with a full 1200mg of calcium as is often recommended is probably overkill unless your diet is very bad (and highly acidic--another subject altogether). If you eat this and still want to supplement, 500 mg is plenty.
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