Calcium is vital for the body because of its vital role in many cellular processes such as muscle movement, blood clotting, and nerve stimulation. Many times when we talk about dental health, we talk about how important calcium is, especially because it is also the main material for bones and teeth. Calcium is so important that there is a signal pathway that alerts the body when calcium levels are low. Since your body cannot make its own calcium, it has to obtain enough from dietary intake or deplete the bones to help maintain normal levels.
The National Institutes of Health offers the following recommendations for daily calcium intake:
Infants up to age 6 months: 200 milligrams (mg)
Infants 6 months to 1 year: 260 mg
Children ages 1 to 3 years: 700 mg
Children ages 4 to 8 years: 1000 mg
Children ages 9 to 18 years: 1,300 mg
Men and women ages 19 to 50: 1,000 mg
Men and women ages 51 and older: 1,200 mg
It is possible to achieve the recommended daily intake with plant-based calcium rich foods! For example, oatmeal (187 mg / 1 cup), Tofu (434 mg / 1 cup), sesame seeds (351 mg/ ¼ cup), collard greens and spinach (250 mg / cup), Blackstrap molasses (137 mg / 1 Tbs), Great Northern beans, Navy beans have, and white beans (130 mg / 1 cup). Try sprinkling ground sesame seeds over your salad, meals, and mixing it into your soup or smoothies for added protein.
A number of factors that should be avoided because they can accelerate calcium loss are very salty food, caffeinated drinks, and tobacco use. For adequate calcium intake, normal levels of vitamin D are also required (we talked about that last week, here).
Although it is our tendency to wait for disease, pain, or illness to finally address our health, it is always best to be proactive and judicious. Invest time in your body and dental health to ensure prevention of decay, destruction, and early cell death.