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Calcium and Your Children
June is Dairy Month so there's no better time to talk about how important calcium is to children's health. Milk and dairy foods have lots of calcium and other nutrients important for strong and healthy bones. Because now is when their bones are growing the most, children and teenagers need the calcium and other bone building materials in milk.
Studies show that most kids don’t get the calcium they need. Calcium is a mineral found in many foods that does lots of great things for the body. So what does calcium do? Calcium makes bones strong, helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis, and helps make the whole mouth healthy. How much calcium a person needs each day depends on age.
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Age
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Daily Calcium Needed
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| Birth to 6 months |
210 milligrams |
| 6-12 months |
270 milligrams |
| 1-3 years |
500 milligrams |
| 4-8 years |
800 milligrams |
| 9-18 years |
1300 milligrams |
| 19-50 years |
1,000 milligrams |
Source:Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium, National Academy of Sciences, 1997
One 8-ounce glass of milk has about 300 milligrams of calcium. Milk also contains vitamin D, which helps the body abosorb calcium. Cheese and yogurt are other great sources of calcium but there are many other foods out there that you may not realize are sources of calcium as well - dark green, leafy vegetables, broccoli, soybeans, tofu made with calcium, orange juice with calcium added, just to name a few.
To help your kids get enough calcium in their meals and snacks, keep dairy products and calcuim-enriched food in the house and drink milk yourself!
By Robyn M. Harper, who is a married WAHM of two, owner of RMH Web Design, and partner of Mom To Mom Chat.com. Contact Robyn anytime at robyn@momtomomchat.com.
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