What are some vegetarian calcium sources?

While it fairly easy to get your fair amount of calcium day to day, some diets or intolerances can cut out major calcium sources. If you are looking for vegetarian calcium sources, we can only presume you are not on a vegan diet, and therefore open to calcium rich foods like dairy.

Dairy is the biggest calcium source in the western diet. Milk, cheese, yoghurt and cream have enough calcium than other foods put together.

However, there are many people who are lactose intolerant or don’t do dairy in their diet, so what other calcium sources are available?

Well, if you look at a good, balanced vegan diet, it contains more than enough calcium if you concentrate on eating foods like fortified cereal, fortified almond milk, tofu, black strap molasses, tempeh, tahini, almond butter, kale and edamame. So while, you cannot glug down a glass of milk, there are ways of getting more than your fair share of minerals and vitamins by picking the right foods.

Aim for two to three daily servings of calcium-rich foods, such as plant-based fortified milk, tofu, and orange juice (check the nutrition label for calcium); and green leafy vegetables, almonds and broccoli. If you’re vegetarian, dairy products such as cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese, and milk are calcium-rich options.

And if you are struggling with getting the right amounts of the right food on a daily basis, supplements are recommended as a back-up. Calcium supplement needs to be taken with a vitamin D supplement in order to aid absorption in the body

While diet-based calcium is the best way of consuming it on the body, you should onsider taking a calcium supplement if you’re not able to meet the daily servings laid out for someone who is vegan or suffers intolerances to dairy. Make sure you only take a supplement that makes up for the amount you are lacking. For example, if you only consume one serving of calcium-rich foods per day, you may want to take a calcium supplement that meets 50% of the RDA.