While food is the best source of calcium, making up any shortfall in your diet with supplements is another option. But it's important not to take too much. Calcium carbonate is not as easily absorbed as calcium citrate. Don't take more than mg at a time. Your body can only absorb a limited amount of calcium at one time, so it is best to consume calcium in small doses throughout the day.

Don't take more than the recommended amount for your age group. Take into account the amount of calcium you get from food. And remember: more isn't better; it may damage the heart and have other negative health effects.

Take your calcium supplement with food. All supplemental forms of calcium are best absorbed when taken with food. If it's not possible to take your supplement with food, choose calcium citrate. Purity is important. Avoid supplements made from unrefined oyster shell, bone meal, or dolomite that don't have the USP symbol because they may contain high levels of lead or other toxic metals.

Be aware of side effects. Some people do not tolerate calcium supplements as well as others and experience side effects such as acid rebound, gas, and constipation.

Calcium citrate is less likely to cause gas or constipation, so try switching from calcium carbonate. Increasing your intake of fluids and high-fiber foods may also help with gas or constipation.

Check for possible drug interactions. Calcium, magnesium, and vitamin K supplements can interfere with other medications and vitamins you're taking, including heart medicine, certain diuretics, antacids, blood thinners, and some cancer drugs.

Talk with your doctor or pharmacist about possible interactions. Any medications that you take on an empty stomach should NOT be taken with calcium.

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Healthy Eating Calcium and Bone Health Calcium is the key to lifelong bone health. Copy Link Link copied! Download PDF. By Melinda Smith, M.

The calcium and osteoporosis connection Food is the best source of calcium Calcium and whole milk dairy: The pros and cons Tips for upping your calcium intake Beyond calcium: Other nutrients for healthy bones Other tips for building strong bones and preventing osteoporosis Calcium supplements: What you need to know.

Reviewed by Annette Snyder, MS, RD, CSOWM , a Certified Registered Dietitian at Top Nutrition Coaching working with clients seeking help for chronic dieting, gut issues, heart health, diabetes and pre-diabetes, and menopause What are the health benefits of calcium?

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Take Assessment HelpGuide is user supported. Learn more. More Information References. Department of Agriculture and U. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, , 9th Edition. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.

Scientific Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Skerrett, P. Essentials of Healthy Eating: A Guide. Office of Dietary Supplements n. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved August 9, , from. The Nutrition Source. Bones play many roles in the body — providing structure, protecting organs, anchoring muscles and storing calcium.

While it's important to build strong and healthy bones during childhood and adolescence, you can take steps during adulthood to protect bone health, too. Your bones are continuously changing — new bone is made and old bone is broken down. When you're young, your body makes new bone faster than it breaks down old bone, and your bone mass increases.

Most people reach their peak bone mass around age After that, bone remodeling continues, but you lose slightly more bone mass than you gain.

How likely you are to develop osteoporosis — a condition that causes bones to become weak and brittle — depends on how much bone mass you attain by the time you reach age 30 and how rapidly you lose it after that.

The higher your peak bone mass, the more bone you have "in the bank" and the less likely you are to develop osteoporosis as you age. Include plenty of calcium in your diet. For adults ages 19 to 50 and men ages 51 to 70, the Recommended Dietary Allowance RDA is 1, milligrams mg of calcium a day.

The recommendation increases to 1, mg a day for women age 51 and older and for men age 71 and older. Good sources of calcium include dairy products, almonds, broccoli, kale, canned salmon with bones, sardines and soy products, such as tofu.

If you find it difficult to get enough calcium from your diet, ask your doctor about supplements. Pay attention to vitamin D. Your body needs vitamin D to absorb calcium. For adults ages 19 to 70, the RDA of vitamin D is international units IUs a day. The recommendation increases to IUs a day for adults age 71 and older.

Good sources of vitamin D include oily fish, such as salmon, trout, whitefish and tuna. Additionally, mushrooms, eggs and fortified foods, such as milk and cereals, are good sources of vitamin D.

Sunlight also contributes to the body's production of vitamin D. If you're worried about getting enough vitamin D, ask your doctor about supplements. If you're concerned about your bone health or your risk factors for osteoporosis, including a recent bone fracture, consult your doctor.

He or she might recommend a bone density test. The results will help your doctor gauge your bone density and determine your rate of bone loss. By evaluating this information and your risk factors, your doctor can assess whether you might be a candidate for medication to help slow bone loss. There is a problem with information submitted for this request.

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You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail. Also, our bones are partly made of calcium salts mixtures of calcium with other minerals , especially calcium phosphate.

Calcium phosphate hardens and strengthens bone. Our bodies cannot make calcium. We need to get calcium from foods and drinks, and supplements when needed, to build strong bones and teeth and to keep them healthy.

Healthy bones are less likely to break if we fall. Calcium does more than build strong bone. It also helps our muscles, heart, and nerves work properly. If we do not get enough calcium in our diets, our body takes the calcium we need from our bones. Over time, this process makes bones weaker and raises the risk of osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis is a disease that makes bones weak and brittle, and people with osteoporosis have a higher risk of fractures broken bones. The amount of calcium each person needs depends on their age and sex.

Table 1 lists how much calcium people need every day to keep their bones strong and healthy. The best food sources of calcium are milk and other dairy products, like cheese and yogurt. Other food sources of calcium include:. See the Bone Health and Osteoporosis: What it Means to You for several examples of calcium-rich foods.

Some foods and drinks are fortified with calcium. A food is fortified when the manufacturer adds vitamins or minerals that the food does not naturally have.

Examples of foods fortified with calcium are certain brands of juice, soymilk, oatmeal, and breakfast cereal. Some supplements contain calcium. Talk to your health care provider if you are thinking about taking a calcium supplement.

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Mayo Clinic Press Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic Press. The analyses were conducted by a team of New Zealand researchers led by Mark Bolland, who first identified the cardiovascular risk associated with calcium supplements.

For the first analysis, they looked at more than 70 studies on the effects of dietary calcium and calcium supplements in preventing fractures.

They considered both randomized clinical trials and observational studies, and the studies varied widely in terms of numbers of participants, calcium intake, vitamin D intake, and how fractures were reported. The researchers found that, over all, neither dietary calcium nor calcium supplements were associated with a reduction in fractures.

In the second analysis, the team reviewed 59 randomized controlled clinical trials that evaluated calcium intake and bone density. Fifteen of those studies involved dietary calcium, and 44 looked at calcium supplements. Over all, getting at least mg of calcium a day from the diet or taking at least 1, mg of supplemental calcium a day increased bone density.

But bone density only increased by about 0. It's important to note that these studies included very few men. Many people think that osteoporosis only affects women, but men can develop osteoporosis too. Bolland and colleagues pointed to one study that they think may be responsible for today's calcium recommendations.

This study was a randomized controlled trial conducted among 3, elderly French women average age 84 in assisted living. The women initially had a low calcium intake around mg a day , low vitamin D levels, and low bone density.

The women who took calcium also built bone, while those on placebos continued to lose it. Those results — reported in and — are often cited by experts when drafting calcium recommendations for the general population. But Bolland argues that healthy, active people who don't have a calcium or vitamin D deficiency aren't likely to get the same protection from taking that much calcium.

Slovik says. But he notes that adequate calcium and vitamin D intake is still essential for healthy bone. A deficiency of either can increase the risk of diseases like osteomalacia and rickets. It's impossible to determine how much calcium each of us, individually, needs.

Try to get as much calcium as you can from food. If your doctor advises you to get 1, to 1, mg of calcium a day, you can safely add a daily calcium supplement of or mg without increasing your risk of heart attack or kidney stones.

And don't forget vitamin D. Follow a diet that provides the proper amount of calcium, vitamin D, and protein. These nutrients will not completely stop bone loss, but they will help ensure that your body has the materials it needs to build bones.

Remaining fit and active can also protect bones and keep them stronger. Avoiding smoking also protects bones and keeps them stronger. Bone strength and calcium; Osteoporosis - calcium and bones; Osteopenia - calcium and bones; Bone thinning - calcium and bones; Low bone density - calcium and bones.

Black DM, Rosen CJ. Clinical practice: postmenopausal osteoporosis. N Engl J Med. PMID: pubmed. Brown C. Vitamins, calcium, bone. In: Brown MJ, Sharma P, Mir FA, Bennett PN, eds. Clinical Pharmacology. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; chap Cosman F, de Beur SJ, LeBoff MS, et al.

Clinician's guide to prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. Osteoporos Int. Sakhaee K, Moe OW. In: Yu ASL, Chertow GM, Luyckx VA, Marsden PA, Skorecki K, Taal MW, eds.

Brenner and Rector's The Kidney. US Preventive Services Task Force, Grossman DC, Curry SJ, Owens DK, et al.