Calcium: health benefits, foods and deficiency

We need calcium for healthy bones and teeth, but many people still believe that we need cow’s milk and dairy products to get it. Do vegans fall short of this essential mineral?

We associate calcium with bones and rightly so, but this important mineral has other functions, too. It’s important for muscle function, nerve transmission, signalling within cells and hormone formation.

Bone health

We are told that cow’s milk is essential for strong, healthy bones and teeth. However, if you look at fracture rates around the world, it becomes apparent that some of the highest dairy-consuming countries also have high fracture rates, particularly hip fractures. There is no clear evidence that cow’s milk and dairy products are essential for bone health and there are plenty of excellent plant-based sources of calcium. Of course, this makes sense as around 70 per cent of the world’s population are lactose intolerant and get their calcium from non-dairy sources.

Deficiency

Signs of deficiency include muscle spasms or cramps, confusion, tiredness, fainting, numbness and tingling in hands, feet and face, brittle nails, tooth decay and fragile bones. A prolonged lack of calcium could lead to rickets in children, osteomalacia in adults and osteoporosis in later life. Osteoporosis affects over 3.5 million people in the UK and the Royal Osteoporosis Society says that half of women and 20 per cent of men over 50 will break a bone because of osteoporosis. Risk factors include not just diet, but also family history, gender, ethnicity, smoking, excessive alcohol and lack of exercise. There is plenty you can do to protect your bones – but you don’t need dairy!

Vitamin D

Calcium is the building block for bones and your bones and teeth contain 99 per cent of all the calcium in your body. But calcium can only build bones properly if your body has enough vitamin D, because this helps calcium absorption. Even if you eat plenty of calcium, it could go to waste if you’re not getting enough vitamin D. In spring and summer, most people in the UK get enough through the action of sunlight on the skin, but in the winter months a supplement may be needed. The government recommends 10 micrograms a day.

Find out more about vitamin D here.

Our bodies continually remove small amounts of calcium from our bones (resorption) and replace it with new calcium (ossification) and because of this constant bone remodelling, we need a regular, but not excessive, supply of calcium.

Damaging dairy

Official guidelines say that adults need around 700 milligrams of calcium a day and that you should be able to get that from your daily diet. It’s better to get your calcium from a healthy, varied, vegan diet and avoid calcium supplements unless you’ve been given specific advice from your doctor or consultant to take them as some research suggests calcium supplements may slightly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

How much are we getting?

The most recent (2020) National Diet and Nutrition Survey found that overall, most people in the UK get enough calcium. However, some groups fell short – around 15 per cent of children and teens ages 11 to 18 years, nine per cent of women aged 19 to 74 and four per cent of women over 75 years were not meeting the daily recommended amounts.

The best food sources

The best plant sources include calcium-set tofu (check the ingredients for calcium sulphate), fortified vegan breakfast cereals (Ready Brek), plant-based milks fortified with calcium, dried figs, kale, sesame seeds and tahini (sesame seed paste), tempeh (fermented soya beans), wholemeal bread, baked beans, butternut squash, almonds and Brazil nuts, spring greens and watercress.

Spinach, chard and beet greens contains relatively high amounts of calcium but also contain a substance called oxalate, which hinders absorption. It’s better to get your calcium from green vegetables low in oxalate such as kale, broccoli and bok choy. The calcium in these can be absorbed up to twice as well as the calcium in cow’s milk but they also contain fibre, folate and iron – nutrients lacking in dairy.

Dairy products are not essential for good bone health. A varied, vegan diet rich in vegetables, fruits, pulses, wholegrains, nuts and seeds provides plenty of calcium. Other ways to improve your bone health include not smoking or drinking, cutting down on tea and coffee as caffeine slows absorption, reducing your salt intake, exposing yourself to sunlight (but avoid burning) and ensuring you have fortified foods such as soya milk and margarine.

Lastly, take physical exercise – particularly weight-bearing exercise such as walking, running, dancing or climbing the stairs is perhaps the most important protective factor for bones. Use ‘em or lose ‘em!