What Vegan Foods Have The Most Calcium
Calcium plays a crucial role in your body. It's well known for its ability to build and maintain your bones. Yet, this mineral is also important for muscle contraction, blood pressure regulation, nerve transmission, and blood clotting. The Reference Daily Intake (RDI) is 1,000 mg per day for adults.
This shoots up to 1,200 mg for those over 50 and 1,300 for children ages 4–18. Still, a large percentage of people don't meet these recommendations. This includes many who avoid eating animal products and dairy — though many plant foods contain this mineral.
Many foods are rich in calcium, and many do not contain dairy. This may be good news, particularly for vegans and lactose-intolerant people who cannot fully digest dairy products. Calcium is essential for general health. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, most adults aged 19–50 require 1,000 milligrams(mg) of calcium per day.
This amount of calcium is present in about three 8-ounce glasses of milk. Milk, cheese, and yogurt are the best sources of calcium, but many non-dairy foods are also rich in minerals. In this article, we describe 18 plant-based sources of calcium.
Calcium is a mineral that plays a vital role in maintaining bone health. Calcium is sold as a supplement, but it's usually possible to get all the calcium you need from your diet. Planning a diet that gets you enough calcium may seem more complex if you are a vegan. Many people get their calcium by drinking milk or yogurt, but vegans don't consume animal products, including dairy.
You don't have to drink milk to get enough calcium, and you may not have to take supplements. Calcium from plant sources may be better for you than calcium from milk or other animal products since animal proteins leach calcium from your bones. You have to be sure to eat enough fruits, vegetables, and other plants containing the calcium your body needs.
Calcium is essential to your health in several ways. One of its main jobs is to strengthen your bones and teeth. When your bones go through the natural process of breaking down, calcium helps build up new bone. Bone growth is significant when your body is going through growth spurts.
Because dairy is one of the most common sources of calcium, lactose intolerant or vegan people may not get all the calcium their bodies need. Fortunately, many plant-based food sources can help you reach your recommended daily value of calcium without consuming any animal products.
The subject of getting enough vitamins and minerals recently popped up in an online chat that I'm part of. The conversation was sparked by a question about what everyone does to ensure they're getting enough vitamins and minerals.
Answers ranged from taking various supplements to mostly getting nutrients from whole foods. “Thanks for answering, everyone,” the OG topic-starter wrote at the end. “Wow, being an adult, huh? What a trip.” Indeed. Part of adult life is staying on top of getting your vitamins and minerals. And one of the most important of those is calcium. It's well-known that milk and cheese are reliable sources.
What Is Calcium?
Calcium is a mineral that is essential for muscle, bone, nerve, and heart health. If you don't get enough calcium, you could develop osteoporosis later in life. Calcium is found in many plant foods. It's a necessary nutrient, but most vegans don't get enough of it from their diets. How Much Calcium Do Vegetarians Need? Many vegans who eat calcium-rich foods don't consume enough of it.
The easiest way to calculate how much calcium you need is to use the National Institutes of Health's Recommended Dietary Allowance. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the recommended daily amount of calcium for women between 19 and 50 is 1,000 milligrams and 1,200 milligrams for men in that age group.
Calcium is a mineral that helps keep your bones strong and healthy. It's vital for strong, healthy bones. It would be best if you had calcium for many body processes. Calcium helps your body absorb vitamin D, essential for bone health. Calcium is also a necessary ingredient in blood cells and hormones. Your body is unable to make all the calcium it needs. You need to get it from food. Calcium helps your body absorb vitamin D.
It would help if you had vitamin D to absorb calcium. Although vegan diets don't provide enough vitamin D for bone health, vegans are often deficient in vitamin D. Research suggests that vegans may be deficient in vitamin D because of the lack of sun exposure. Calcium may also be hard to get if you are vegan because many vegan foods lack calcium, especially vegan cereals.
Why Is Calcium Important?
Drinking calcium-rich foods can lower your risk of osteoporosis, a condition that leads to bones weakening and becoming brittle. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, people who drink dairy products twice a day are 14 percent less likely to have a bone fracture than people who never drink dairy products. Some foods are more calcium-rich than others.
Some of the top sources of calcium include broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts, and edamame. Additionally, protein-rich foods, including dairy products and nuts, are the primary sources of calcium. Vegetarian sources of calcium include tofu, soy products, soy milk, nuts, and kale. Other foods may be considered healthier but contain fewer calcium nutrients than dairy products.
A diet with a high-calcium content is said to have the best effect on bone health. According to the Canadian Medical Association, “a person requires about 1,000 mg of calcium daily, of which 400-800 mg is usually obtained from foods and about 300 mg from dairy products.”
Researchers have found that people who eat diets with high calcium and low calcium are more likely to have thicker bones, but vegans often don't get enough calcium in their diet, which means they are at risk of weakening their bones. Other possible health issues related to low bone density include osteoporosis, which can cause problems such as fractures and can lead to an increased risk of developing diabetes.
Calcium helps to make bones strong and keeps them flexible. Bones also play a critical role in helping to transport essential nutrients throughout the body, including carbohydrates, nutrients that you need to survive. While some plant foods have a small amount of calcium, more foods are minerals.
For example, leafy green vegetables, such as spinach and kale, are high in calcium, which is why they are an excellent addition to your diet if you are vegan. There are many sources of protein that are high in calcium. Studies have shown that higher-protein diets lead to more bone mass and a higher bone mineral density.
How Do Vegans Get Calcium?
The easiest way for vegans to get calcium is from leafy green vegetables and calcium-rich beans. Various leafy greens have at least half the amount of calcium in dairy milk and yogurt, including kale, spinach, collard greens, and mustard greens. Beans have a similar nutrient profile.
Their beans and legumes include legumes and soy foods, which also have high calcium levels. According to the American Dietetic Association, a 20 percent increase in calcium-rich food intake will help meet your dietary calcium needs. If you are worried about getting enough calcium, supplementing with a calcium supplement can help.
It turns out that milk and yogurt are not the only sources of calcium. There are several vegetable sources of calcium, and vegans don't need to worry about a calcium deficiency.
Vegan Options For Getting More Calcium
The key is to ensure you get enough of this nutrient from your diet. An excellent way to help you do that is by including foods that contain calcium. Among the top sources of calcium in the vegan diet are almonds, spinach, broccoli, and leafy green vegetables.
Calcium is also found in fortified cereals and orange juice. Many diets also suggest having 1.5 cups of soy milk per day. It's vital to ensure that you get enough calcium from your diet so that you don't experience any health problems later in life. If you don't get enough calcium, it could result in arthritis, rickets, and osteoporosis.
When you start to look at calcium from a vegan perspective, you can't help but wonder what foods provide the most calcium. The answer may surprise you.
It's still possible to get enough calcium, and vegan sources include nuts, seeds, green leafy vegetables, legumes and soy.
Vegan Foods That Have Calcium
If you are vegan, you need to know how much calcium you need to consume each day. The amount of calcium you need depends on your gender, age, and body size. A healthful diet can provide about 1,000 milligrams (mg) of calcium daily. You can find calcium on a food label, so check it before eating.
Chyawanprash
It's often said that quinoa has all nine essential amino acids (the essential amino acids are the nutrients necessary for building proteins). It's true that most foods are vegetarian, but quinoa and most other products of the flowering plant Camellia Sinensis do contain the essential amino acids.
Several foods containing quinoa as the main ingredient also contain calcium. Among these is Chyavanprash. The word “Chyavanprash” in Sanskrit means “very sour,” and this drink is quite sour. However, Chyavanprash has the crucial ingredient essential to bones – calcium.
Calcium is available in many plant foods. While it's possible to get enough calcium from plant foods alone, vegans typically get most of their calcium from fortified foods and calcium-set tofu. Calcium-set tofu is made from tofu that has been soaked and steamed and is used to make baked tofu. Although tofu is high in calcium, it's essential to ensure that the tofu you buy is vegan and does not contain additives.
Cabbage Is An Amazing Vegetable
Cabbage is filled with beneficial nutrients. It's especially beneficial if you're following a vegan diet because cabbage is filled with nutrients, such as selenium, an antioxidant. These nutrients work to reduce inflammation, leading to the rapid decline of your health associated with cancer.
Potatoes
Potatoes have about 10% of the calcium of milk and yogurt. So, if you eat one medium-size potato each day, you'll get about 175 mg of calcium.
Potatoes have a lot of calcium, even though they are often thought to be starchy vegetables. A cup of baked potatoes is low in fat, carbohydrates, and calories and contains about 11 percent of your daily value for calcium. Cooking does not lower the amount of calcium in potatoes. Potatoes are also high in potassium, which helps balance calcium levels and balances blood pressure.
Broccoli
Broccoli is an excellent source of calcium. In one cup of broccoli, you can get about 100 mg of calcium.
Edamame
Edamame is soybeans. You can make it into a salad by adding red and green onions, oil, and vinegar.
However, several vegan foods are high in calcium. Nuts, seeds, and leafy greens are all great sources of calcium. This makes it much easier to get the calcium you need. It's also a good idea to avoid protein and dairy together, which may not only make your bones brittle but also cause excess urinary calcium.
Almonds have the most calcium of any foods we list in this article. Almonds have a high calcium concentration, and they are readily available as a snack in the grocery store. You can grind them up and put them in smoothies or make your favorite oatmeal.
Calcium is found in many vegan foods, including greens, beans, and nuts. Make sure to drink enough water to keep the body from getting low on calcium, and make sure you eat enough calcium-rich foods. Raw greens and beans are considered good sources of calcium.
Legumes are another great source of calcium. Extra-virgin olive oil is a plant-based fat high in vitamin E, essential for blood and skin health. Kale, spinach, beets, and chard are all great sources of calcium. They also are excellent sources of magnesium, which helps muscle and bone strength. Wheatgrass contains more calcium than spinach. It is also a good source of manganese, vitamin B6, and vitamin C.
Soy Foods
The addition of soy to a vegan diet has become common. Because of soy's reputation for being high in protein, it can sometimes seem to make up for a lack of other nutrients. This is not true with any amount of soy. Even a few servings per day can increase your risk of osteoporosis, as well as cause kidney stones. If you are at risk of kidney stones, you need to be extra careful when eating soy foods, as they are often very high in calcium.
Beans, Peas, and Lentils
If you're going to eat a veggie-heavy diet, you should be getting plenty of calcium in your diet. For many vegans, it's beans, peas, and lentils that contain the most calcium. One cup of lentils and a cup of dry beans provide 16 grams of calcium, which is 10% of your daily allowance for calcium.
Another top source of calcium is broccoli. One cup of broccoli has around 3 grams of calcium, which is more than lentils and beans. Cantaloupe has the most calcium of all fruit, as a single serving contains just over 6 grams. However, many people prefer to mix some ice cream with their cantaloupe for a protein and calcium boost.
Fruit And Berries
Certain fruit like apples, dried figs, oranges, blueberries, and cranberries all contain calcium. Fruit and berries are amazingly healthy for us.
Certain Nuts
Vegan sources of calcium include almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, macadamia nuts, and peanut butter. Most of these nuts are incredibly high in calcium. To keep your calcium levels where they need to be, don't eat a whole cup of cashews or almonds at one time. Stick to a small portion of nuts when you're hungry.
Seeds
Seeds contain high calcium levels, and they're often the primary source of this mineral. Farmers usually grow crops that grow well in their area. For instance, black beans are found in South America but not North America. People who live in North America get their calcium from plant foods, which means that beans' extra calcium is unnecessary. Some people get calcium from supplements.
A 2007 study published in the British Medical Journal says that in Europe, around 40 percent of adults do so, compared to 20 percent in the U.S. In the U.S., the health authorities don't regulate the safety of calcium supplements. To ensure that your calcium supplements are safe, talk to your doctor or a dietitian about how much you should take.
Seaweed
Seaweed is a type of seaweed that is high in calcium. It's an ingredient in many veggie smoothies, but in some cases, it can be challenging to determine if the smoothie you are making is made with seaweed. You'll know the seaweed you are making is vegetarian or vegan when the label has a picture of a happy-looking fish. Some labels label vegetable drinks as a vegan.
For example, Amy's Organic Health Delight is a plant-based drink that is vegan. It has a small fish, but the label does not label it as being vegan. For the most part, vegans have a more difficult time getting calcium from plant sources. It's possible to get plenty of calcium through plant sources, but it is usually a high-calcium diet.
Vegetables And Leafy Greens
Vegetables and leafy greens like avocado, beets, bok choy, spinach, broccoli, swiss chard, and kale are full of calcium, and there are many ways you can consume them.
- Add them to the salad.
- Fry them.
- Mix them into other dishes.
- Toast them.
- Steak them.
- Make a smoothie with them.
- Or use them to make juice or milk.
- Soak them in water.
- Make your own salad dressings using herbs and vinegar.
Conclusion
Foods rich in calcium don't have to be difficult for vegans. There are many simple ways to get the calcium and other nutrients you need. If you don't get enough nutrients, a doctor may need to prescribe a supplement. In most cases, vegan sources of calcium are enough to meet your needs.
Numerous vegan foods are packed with protein, healthy fats, and nutrients. While many vegan diets will result in a healthier and happier you, every person's needs are different, and some people may need to take in extra calories to meet their daily requirements.
While vegan people will be naturally healthier, the quality of vegan foods isn't known. One thing is sure: consuming too little of a nutrient can lead to illness. While vegan diets may not be ideal for every person, eating vegan does not have to be impossible.
I trust you enjoyed reading the article about What Vegan Foods Have The Most Calcium? Please stay tuned. There are more blog posts to come very shortly.
JeannetteZ
Want To Learn How To Create Delicious, Cruelty-Free, Healthy AND 100% Vegan Meals? Try These Awesome Vegan Cooking Courses With A Free 7-DAY MEMBERSHIP
Your Opinion Is Important To Me
Ideas? Thoughts? Questions? I would love to hear from you. Would you please leave me your questions, experience, and remarks about this article on What Vegan Foods Have The Most Calcium in the comments section below? You can also reach me by email at Jeannette@LivingTheVeganLifestyle.org.
Here are some links to some of my favourite articles:
The Vegan Diet Plan For Beginners
The Vegan Diet And Everything To Know
What Can Vegans Take For Anemia?