How can you get enough calcium?

Medical societies recommend that adults get between 700 mg and 1,200 milligrams (mg) of calcium per day. It is possible to get this amount purely through what you eat and drink. Food products that are particularly high in calcium include cow's milk, yogurt, cheeses like Gouda and Emmental cheese, green vegetables such as spinach and broccoli, as well as calcium-rich mineral water (with more than 150 mg calcium per liter). Low-fat dairy products made from cow's milk also contain a lot of calcium. Sometimes, manufacturers add extra calcium to food products. These "fortified" foods include certain breakfast cereals, dairy alternatives like soy milk or oat milk, and juices.

If you eat and drink the following foods over the course of one day, you will get a total of about 1,000 mg of calcium:

• 2 slices of rye bread or whole grain bread
• 2 slices of Gouda, Edam or Emmental cheese
• 1 serving of broccoli
• 2 glasses of mineral water (200 ml each), and
• 1 pot of yogurt (200 g)

or

• 2 glasses of milk (200 ml each)
• 2 slices of rye bread or whole grain bread
• 2 servings of camembert cheese, and
• 1 serving of spinach

or

• 1 pot of yogurt (200 g)
• 1 serving of muesli (50 g) with milk (100 ml)
• 1 slice of rye bread or whole grain bread
• 1 slice of Gouda, Edam or Emmental cheese
• 1 serving of kale, and
• 1 glass of mineral water (200 ml)

If you don't drink cow's milk or eat dairy products made from cow's milk, it is considerably more difficult to get enough calcium in your diet. In that case, suitable sources of calcium would include

• green vegetables like spinach, kale, fennel and broccoli,
• nuts,
• calcium-rich mineral water,
• calcium-fortified dairy milk alternatives like soy milk, oat milk, almond milk or rice milk, and
• other food products that are fortified with calcium.

This table can help you to calculate roughly how much calcium you get in a typical day: