Calcium
Minerals & trace elements
The calcium of crucifers, sesame and almonds.
Classic trap: spinach contains a lot but its oxalates block it almost entirely. Kale and broccoli, low in oxalates, give far more.
Effects and benefits
The skeleton holds 99% of it, and lends it to the blood when it runs short. Calcium is needed for normal bones and teeth, and contributes to muscles, nerves and clotting. Bone capital is built before thirty.
Calcium is needed for the maintenance of normal bones and teeth, and it contributes to normal blood clotting, to normal energy-yielding metabolism, to normal muscle function, to normal neurotransmission and to the normal function of digestive enzymes (Regulation 432/2012).
Bone is not stone: it is constantly broken down and rebuilt, and the whole skeleton renews itself in about ten years. Until 25 or 30, we build more than we lose: that is peak bone mass, the reserve for a whole life.
By sex and age: EFSA sets the reference intake at 1,150 mg a day for a teenager, 1,000 mg from 18 to 24 and 950 mg after (EFSA, 2015). After menopause, women lose bone faster, for lack of estrogens: that is the age when calcium, vitamin D and physical activity matter most.
Sources: EU Regulation 432/2012 · EFSA, 2015
Where to find it (27)
- Almond
- Arugula
- Black soybean
- Bok choy
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower leaves
- Chia seeds
- Chinese cabbage
- Collard greens
- Fermented tofu
- Fig
- Horse gram (kulthi)
- Kale
- Kohlrabi leaves
- Komatsuna
- Moringa leaves
- Nettle
- Okra
- Parsley
- Poppy seeds
- Radish greens
- Sesame seeds
- Solenostemon
- Soybeans / edamame
- Teff
- Turnip greens
- Watercress