Three ways calcium can boost your health

It is suggested that adults should get 700mg of calcium a day, with food being the best source. Here are three good reasons why.

These are the three ways calcium is good for your health:

1. It can be good for blood pressure

The calcium in dairy foods works alongside other nutrients to help to control blood pressure. “Yoghurt and milk provide calcium alongside magnesium and potassium, which are important for blood-pressure control,” says the registered nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert.

In a 2021 study University of Maine and University of South Australia researchers found a daily serving of yoghurt helped to regulate blood pressure in people with hypertension.

The trial suggested that bacteria in yoghurt promote the release of proteins that lower blood pressure.

2. It is essential for bone health

Calcium is one of the essential bone-building nutrients, and according to the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS), “the body contains about one kilogram of calcium and 99 per cent of this is in your bones”. Advice is for adults to get 700mg of calcium daily although the ROS says you may benefit from getting as much as 1000mg a day. “As we age, we lose bone density, which increases our risk of fractures and general frailty,” Lambert says. Food is by far the best source, with some studies suggesting high doses provided in calcium supplements may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in some people.

“Good sources include cheese, dairy, eggs, spinach, kale, oily fish, nuts and pulses,” Lambert says. The ROS has a handy food choices guide while the University of Edinburgh has an online calcium calculator.

Eggs, cheese and spinach are good sources of calcium.

3. It may reduce your risk of bowel cancer

A recent study of more than half a million women suggested that consuming an additional 300mg of calcium – about the amount in a large glass of milk – a day could be linked to decreasing the risk of bowel cancer by 17 per cent. The same benefits were true for other sources of calcium, with about 300mg found in a 40g chunk of cheese, a cheese omelette, a bowl of porridge made with milk and topped with nuts and seeds or two servings of dark leafy greens. According to Dr Keren Papier, the nutritional epidemiologist who led the research, “Calcium might protect against bowel cancer by binding to bile acids and free fatty acids to form a type of harmless ‘soap’, which stops them from damaging the lining of our gut.” The process is thought to act as a “spring clean”, sweeping away bile and fatty acids so they are less likely to cause damage.

This story was originally published on The Times.

Originally published as Three ways calcium can boost your health