Get Calcium!
Calcium. Most women don't get nearly enough. The trouble is, our
bodies need calcium every day. If you don't get enough calcium from the
food you eat, your body will steal what it needs from your
bones—leaving them fragile and weak later in life. But despite what
we've been told, only one woman out of 10 consumes enough calcium. In
fact, a typical woman gets less than 600 milligrams (mg) a day, which is
far shy of the 1,000 mg recommended by the National Institutes of
Health.
One of the most available sources of calcium in food comes from milk
and foods made with milk. The amount of calcium you need varies with
your age and stage in life. While the average adult needs 1,000 mg of
calcium each day—the amount in about three glasses of milk—other
groups need even more.
| Amount of Calcium Needed |
| Children 1–10 years |
800–1200 mg |
| Adolescents/Young Adults 11 to 24 years |
1,200–1,500 mg |
| Premenopausal women |
1,000 mg |
| Pregnant and nursing women |
1,200–1,500 mg |
| Postmenopausal women, using estrogen |
1,000 mg |
| Postmenopausal women, NOT using estrogen |
1,500 mg |
| All women over 65 years |
1,500 mg |
| Men 25 to 65 years |
1,000 mg |
| Men over 65 years |
1,500 mg |
| (Source: National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference on Optimal Calcium Intake, 1994) |
|
For a free physician referral, call
1.800.3.ADVOCATE
1.800.323.8622
|
|
