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Woodstock Animal Rights Movement
A Store For Life
P. O. Box 746
Woodstock, NY 12498 USA |
Calcium in Plant-Based Diets
www.pcrm.org
Many people choose to avoid milk
because it contains fat, cholesterol, allergenic proteins, lactose sugar,
and frequent traces of contamination. Milk is also linked to
juvenile-onset diabetes and other serious conditions. Happily, there are
plenty of other good sources of calcium.
Keeping your bones strong depends
more on preventing the loss of calcium from your body than on boosting
your calcium intake.
Some cultures consume no dairy
products and typically ingest only 175 to 475 milligrams of calcium per
day. However, these people generally have low rates of osteoporosis. Many
scientists believe that exercise and other factors have more to do with
osteoporosis than calcium intake does.
Calcium in the Body
Almost all of the calcium in the body
is in the bones. There is a tiny amount in the blood stream which is
responsible for important functions such as muscle contraction,
maintenance of the heartbeat, and transmission of nerve impulses.
We constantly lose calcium from our
bloodstream through urine, sweat, and feces. It is renewed with calcium
from bone. In this process, bones continuously lose calcium. This bone
calcium must be replaced from food.
Calcium needs change throughout life.
Up until the age of 30 or so, we consume more calcium than we lose.
Adequate calcium intake during childhood and adolescence is especially
important. Later, the body begins to slip into �negative calcium balance,�
and the bones start to lose more calcium than they take up. The loss of
too much calcium can lead to soft bones or osteoporosis.
How rapidly calcium is lost depends,
in part, on the kind and amount of protein you eat as well as other diet
and lifestyle choices.
Reducing Calcium Loss
A number of factors affect calcium
loss from the body:
-
Diets that are high in protein cause
more calcium to be lost through the urine. Protein from animal products
is much more likely to cause calcium loss than protein from plant foods.
This may be one reason that vegetarians tend to have stronger bones than
meat eaters.
-
Caffeine increases the rate at which
calcium is lost through urine.
-
Diets high in sodium increase calcium
losses in the urine.
-
Alcohol inhibits calcium absorption.
-
The mineral boron may slow the loss of
calcium from bones.
-
Exercise slows bone loss and is one of
the most important factors in maintaining bone health.
Sources of Calcium
Exercise and a diet moderate in
protein will help to protect your bones. People who eat plant-based diets
and who lead an active lifestyle probably have lower calcium needs.
However, calcium is an essential nutrient for everyone. It is important to
eat calcium-rich foods every day.
The �Calcium in Foods� chart on the
following page gives the amount of calcium found in some excellent plant
sources. A quick glance shows how easy it is to meet calcium needs. The
following sample menus each provide close to 1,000 milligrams of calcium.
CALCIUM IN FOODS
(content in milligrams) |
|
Grains |
| Brown rice (1 cup, cooked) |
20 |
| Corn bread (1 2-oz. piece) |
133 |
| Corn tortilla |
42 |
| English muffin |
92 |
| Pancake mix (1/4 cup; 3
pancakes; Aunt Jemima Complete) |
140 |
| Pita bread (1 piece) |
18 |
| Wheat bread (1 slice) |
18 |
| Wheat flour, all-purpose (1
cup) |
22 |
|
Wheat flour, Pillsbury�s Best
(1 cup) |
238 |
| Whole wheat flour (1 cup) |
40 |
|
Fruits |
| Apple (1 medium) |
10 |
| Banana (1 medium) |
7 |
|
Dried figs (10 figs; 187
grams) |
269 |
| Naval orange (1 medium) |
56 |
|
Orange juice, calcium-fortified
(8 oz.) |
300* |
| Pear (1 medium) |
19 |
| Raisins (2/3 cup) |
53 |
|
Vegetables |
| Broccoli (1 cup, boiled,
frozen) |
94 |
| Brussels sprouts (1 cup,
boiled, 8 sprouts) |
56 |
| Butternut squash (1 cup,
boiled) |
84 |
| Carrots (2 medium, raw) |
38 |
| Cauliflower (1 cup, boiled) |
34 |
| Celery (1 cup, boiled) |
64 |
| Collards (1 cup, boiled,
frozen) |
348 |
| Kale (1 cup, boiled) |
94 |
| Onions (1 cup, boiled) |
46 |
| Potato (1 medium, baked) |
20 |
| Romaine lettuce (1 cup) |
20 |
| Sweet potato (1 cup, boiled) |
70 |
|
Legumes |
| Black turtle beans (1 cup,
boiled) |
103 |
| Chick peas (1 cup, canned) |
78 |
| Great Northern beans (1 cup,
boiled) |
121 |
| Green beans (1 cup, boiled) |
58 |
| Green peas (1 cup, boiled) |
44 |
| Kidney beans (1 cup, boiled) |
50 |
| Lentils (1 cup, boiled) |
37 |
| Lima beans (1 cup, boiled) |
32 |
| Navy beans (1 cup, boiled) |
128 |
| Pinto beans (1 cup, boiled) |
82 |
| Soybeans (1 cup, boiled) |
175 |
| Tofu (1/2 cup, raw, firm) |
258 |
| Vegetarian baked beans (1
cup) |
128 |
| Wax beans (1 cup, canned) |
174 |
| White beans (1 cup, boiled) |
161 |
|
Source: J.A.T. Pennington, Bowes
and Church�s Food Values of Portions Commonly Used. (New York:
Harper and Row, 1989.) |
|
* package information |
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