Role of Calcium in Good Nutrition

Calcium is best known for helping to build strong bones and teeth.

Key Functions

• Most of the calcium from food goes straight to the teeth and bones, where it is used for building and maintaining strength.
• Calcium is also used throughout the body to help muscles contract, enable blood to clot, transmit messages along nerves, produce energy, keep the heart beating, and maintain the immune system.
• If calcium intake is low, the body takes what it needs from the bones. This can cause the bones to become thin and brittle.

Food Sources

Milk and milk products, cheese, small fish (with bones), tofu, dark green vegetables, legumes and eggs

• Calcium found in plant-based food sources is typically bound into compounds and less easily absorbed by the body.
• It is estimated that the body actually absorbs as little as 20 to 40 percent of the calcium in food sources.

Safety Evidence

Good intake of calcium is essential throughout life, particularly during childhood and adolescence, when bones are growing. It is also important as we age, when the bones can become thinner and more brittle.