How do vegans get the required amount of calcium

Chris P Duck

Do vegans take alot of supplements to replace vitamins and minerals that they are missing out on by not eating animal products. I'm espically insterested to know here they get their RDA of calcium.

Tar.Aldarion

no there is no need for any vegetarian or vegan to take supplements.

here we go....

Calcium Requirements

Age/Sex Calcium requirement (mg/day)
Infants & children, depending on age 350-550
Teenage girls 800
Teenage boys 1000
Adult men & women 700
Breast-feeding women extra 550

The 1989 US recommendations are generally slightly higher. In 1994 the US recommendations for children aged 1-10 was increased from 800mg to 1,200mg daily and for young adults aged 11-24 years it was increased from 1,200 to 1,500mg. During pregnancy and breast feeding women in the USA are now advised to have 1,400mg calcium daily and American men and women over the age of 50 years are advised to increased their calcium intake towards 1,500mg because the intestinal absorption of calcium declines with age.

Vegan Sources of Calcium
Good plant sources of calcium include tofu (if prepared using calcium sulphate contains more than four times the calcium of whole cow's milk), green leafy vegetables, seeds and nuts. The calcium in green vegetables which are not high in oxalate e.g. kale, is absorbed as well or better than the calcium from cow's milk. Some soya milks e.g. Provamel, Plamil, Granovita are fortified with calcium. Drinking hard water can provide 200mg of calcium daily but soft water contains almost none. Other calcium rich foods include black molasses, edible seaweeds, watercress, parsley and dried figs.

Examples of amounts of foods providing 100mg calcium
Type of Food Calcium per 100g (g)
Black molasses 20
Dried figs 40
Almonds 42
Soya flour 44
Parsley 50
Kale 67
Brazils Nuts 59
Wholemeal bread 185
Oatmeal 192


any questions about any of it or any other vitamins/minerals etc.


EDIT: a little more...

Conclusions

The calcium intake of vegans tends to be slightly below the recommended optimal amounts but the body does adapt to lower intakes and there have been no reports of calcium deficiency in vegans.

I.E. Don't worry about calcium.

sweet-rasmus

i was gonna say that... there's no prob getting calcium; it's everywhere!

SueA

Soya milk has the same calcium as dairy milk, many vegetables, nuts and seeds are also high in calcium.

Mentalmiss

I got my test results yesterday. Post menopausal woman, 41 years veggie, 14 years vegan, no calcium supplements and my levels were fine as were my bone indicators.

blatantrereg

A very high consumption of animal protein causes calcium to be leeched from bones. I reckon 'paleo'/Atkins style diets are probably more likely than vegan diets to result in calcium deficiency

Gadgie

Serious zombie thread.

I think the OP was probably satisfied with the first answer they got ten years ago.