High Calcium Diet: 11 Best Sources of Calcium

What is Calcium?

While obtaining a high calcium diet seems like something that should be quite straightforward, if you don’t know where to look for the best sources of calcium then this might be difficult.

Calcium is one of the earliest minerals that life started using. However, with our modern diets there are many people deficient or low in calcium, sufferers of osteoporosis or similar.

We previously spoke about a global vitamin D deficiency, this has consequences for your calcium intake too. Approaching a high calcium diet shouldn’t be too difficult.

Vitamin D is absolutely vital for calcium uptake. You should ensure you are also supplementing for or supporting your vitamin D intake when seeking to increase your calcium levels. A high calcium diet should be supported with vitamin D too. There are also different forms of calcium that the body uses and this is important for uptake and use by the body, though this is only generally applicable to calcium supplements.

You can read a bit more about vitamin D here.

Why Do You Need Calcium?

It is central to so many functions in the body, including as a messenger for different nerve cells and to support normal bone and teeth functioning. Calcium supports healthy heart functioning too.

Calcium also helps with healthy cell death, including bone or other cancer prevention at the earliest stages through cell signalling. These factors emphasize the importance of a high calcium diet.

Deficiencies in calcium include diseases such as rickets or osteoporosis. If you’ve been diagnosed with osteoporosis, you will know that this disease means you have weakened bones.

For suffers this further emphasises the importance of maintaining a high calcium and phosphorus diet with normal levels of vitamin D.

The foods we discuss in this article will certainly help with constructing some sort of osteoporosis diet that can help support your condition.

High Calcium Diet: Recommended Calcium Intake

Depending on the advisory boards, the minimum recommended daily guideline intake for calcium is 500 milligrams. On the higher end of this scale, medical professionals recommend up to 1,200 milligrams of calcium per day.

Seeing as calcium is so essential to your daily functioning and maintaining adequate bone mass throughout your life, we would probably recommend aiming for somewhere closer to 1,000 milligrams at the minimum.

That way you are staying within medically recommended guidelines and ensuring that you have optimal calcium intake per day too.

You don’t absorb all of the nutrients that you eat, for various reasons, which will be covered later on. This is also a reason why you might want to aim slightly higher than the recommended intake for your weekly high calcium diet.

It is difficult to take too much calcium, but important to remember that you should not eat too much calcium, as this can also have consequences.

11 Foods High in Calcium

Calcium in Milk

Milk from animals such as cows is a classic example of an easy source of calcium. This is one of the reasons why humans developed such a close relationship with cattle, such as cows, in early human settlements.

Your classical cow’s milk contains 123 milligrams of calcium per 100 grams, or about 300 milligrams per cup.

This is not as much as in cheese however there’s still a lot of calcium in milk. Cheese is fermented, so contains more calcium. Milk is so easy to integrate into a high calcium diet for low calcium level support.

Calcium in Cheese

Cheese is a dairy based source of calcium but not all cheeses are made the same. Depending on how the cheese is made they will have more or less calcium.

Greek feta style cheese contains 371 milligrams of calcium per 100 grammes of cheese. Whereas Italian style mozzarella cheese contains nearly 505 milligrams of calcium per 100 grammes of cheese.

The Dutch are master cheesemakers, known for producing many different variations of cheese. For example, Dutch Edam cheese contains 731 milligrams of calcium per 100 grammes of cheese.

It is no surprise that the average height in the Netherlands is also much higher than many other countries.

If you are looking for a calcium boost the Dutch cheeses are fantastic, they are easy to integrate into your diet for an added punch of calcium each day. You can use the milder cheeses on a lasagna or add to an enchiladas dish.

Cheese is an excellent source of calcium and energy, nearly satisfying the entire daily needs of calcium. This is why cheese is a staple food of many farmers and labourers.

Yoghurt

In a classical yoghurt there is 121 milligrams of calcium per 100 grams of yoghurt. Yoghurt is quite a flexible food and can be integrated into a desert, a dip with a larger meal or had with breakfast.

The dairy based calcium sources are higher in fats, so must be eaten in moderation but so easy to integrate into your calcium rich diet.

Kefir

Kefir is a type of fermented yoghurt providing many health benefits. In 100 grams of kefir there is 130 milligrams of calcium.

This fermented yoghurt is a gut friendly way to approach calcium intake. Most people could quite easily eat a serving a week. Kefir is typically a sweet, but healthier yoghurt best had as a desert.

High Calcium Diet: Non-Dairy Sources of Calcium

Sardines

One of our wonder foods here is sardines. Sardines containing bones are one of the most incredible sources of calcium and phosphorus that you can eat.

They also contain substantial amounts of vitamin D as we’ve covered before and other trace minerals. Sardines are also a non-dairy source of calcium, so great for anyone that is lactose or dairy intolerant.

On its day, the humble sardine could challenge most foods for nutrient density. Specifically referring to sardines and high calcium dietary intake, sardines contain 382 milligrams of calcium per 100 grams. This is about 38% of your recommended daily allowance.

Sardines also contain 490 milligrams of phosphorus. They are a great non-dairy source of calcium and can support bone health. This fish is also packed with protein at 14 grammes per five small sardines.

Sardines taste amazing and you can integrate them into many different recipes as well. You could make anything from condensed sardine fish soups, like salmorejo soup, stews or barbecued sardines.

Salmon

Salmon is also a fairly nutrient dense food like sardines. However, salmon does not contain as much calcium as sardines do. This fish contains about 210 grams of calcium per 100 grams of the fish with bones.

Salmon is another very flexible food that can be cooked or eaten in various ways.

Almond Milk

Almond milk does not contain dairy, so is suitable for those with dairy intolerance or allergies. The calcium content within 100 grammes of almond milk is 158 milligrams. This is quite competitive with cow’s milk. Fortified milks and juices generally have a lot of calcium in.

High Calcium Diet: Vegetables High in Calcium

Kale

Kale is quite a bland tasting green vegetable, however kale contains 132 milligrams of calcium per 100 grammes.

Leafy kale is also rich in nutrients such as vitamin K and makes a decent vegetable to include in one’s diet. Kale is a great food to add to your juicing arsenal as well.

Parsley

Parsley is a very underrated herb and a great addition as a seasoning to pasta, soups or oven-based dishes.

While you do need to eat 100 grams of parsley to obtain 138 milligrams of calcium, this is another nutrient dense food that can give an extra kick of flavour to many dishes.

Arugula, Rocket Salad

Rocket salad, known as arugula, contains 160 milligrams of calcium per 100 grammes of salad leaves. It also has about 4 calories per 300 grammes.

Rocket works great as a salad, adding extra flavour, while also making a really quick dish to have on the go. Once again, this peppery tasting salad can add an extra kick of taste to your dishes.

Black-Eyed Peas

This vegetable contains 128 milligrams of calcium per 100g of black-eyed peas. Black-eyed peas can be mixed into a salad, eat as a side or mixed into tacos. You could make a chilli con carne with black-eyed peas too.

Anti-Calcium Foods To exclude From Your Diet

If you are dairy intolerant or vegetarian and seeking to increase your calcium levels there is one particular calcium digestion-dynamic that you need to be aware of.

Plants contain an anti-nutritional compound called oxalates. Some plants have very high concentrations of oxalates relative to others.

While some plants have developed a relationship with us over time, others took a more defensive strategy to being eaten.

Anti nutritional compounds, like oxalates, are a plants way of telling us indirectly that we really shouldn’t be eating too much of them. Though not as aggressive as spikes on a cactus for example.

Oxalates bind to calcium, stopping calcium being absorbed as well as it would be otherwise. They are also the main causes kidney stones. Some major plants to be aware of are spinach, strawberries, tea and nuts. These foods contain more oxalates than others.

Oxalates can be a source of major calcium deficiencies, so you need to be aware of these.

High Calcium Diet: Gluten and Calcium Absorption

Another compound within plants to be aware of when it comes to calcium intake and absorption is gluten.

Gluten can cause serious disruption of the intestinal linings where nutrient absorption happens. This can be so uncomfortable for some sufferers that they experience symptoms of gluten allergy or intolerance. The most serious cases are diagnosed as celiac disease.

If you have a gluten allergy or feel slightly intolerant, you should make sure you regulate your dietary intake accordingly. This means avoiding large amounts of wheat-based products.

Intestinal disruption can prevent the absorption of many different nutrients, including calcium in the digestive tract.

Conclusion

Calcium is essential to maintaining optimum bone density and strength, as well as maintaining healthy nerve transmission.

While deficiencies in calcium are fairly high globally, there are so many calcium rich foods to optimise your diet with.

 One of the problems with calcium intake is interference in absorption through gluten or oxalates that really reduce your intake.

You should aim for around 1,000 milligrams of calcium a day and this is achievable through consuming high calcium foods such as sardines, cheese and even some vegetables such as black-eyed peas or rocket salad.

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